Libs tell business: get up to speed on lobbying strategy

The Liberal Party is looking to the corporate sector to play a more ­active role in getting support for pro-business reform.

The Liberal Party wants the corporate sector to play a more ­active role in generating community support for pro-business ­reforms such as cuts to the company tax rate, as the government counters the threat posed by activist groups such as GetUp!

Andrew Bragg, the outgoing acting federal director of the ­Liberal Party, told Sky News yesterday that business groups needed to learn from and embrace the campaigning tactics employed by “third party” groups.

He also suggested the Liberal Party should focus more on micro-campaigns in which the power of social media was harnessed to promote specific messages that targeted key groups instead of relying on the power of overarching campaign messages or narratives.

“Business should look at how it campaigns ... and learn how to go direct to the consumer and explain the benefits of lower taxes, less regulation, (and) free trade,” Mr Bragg said. “It’s not to barrack for the Liberal Party.”

He said the Coalition was not competing on a “level playing field” in political campaigning, noting that environmental groups that received tax deductible donations were often engaged in partisan political activities.

With the cost to the taxpayer of these deductions reaching about $20 million a year, Mr Bragg said, the rules should be changed to deny politically active groups receiving tax deductible donations.

“It’s very worthy of further examination,” he said. “I think basically the principle you would apply would be if you are undertaking naked political activity, you cannot have a tax deduction.”

The government issued a discussion paper last month on suggested reforms to the deductible gift recipient tax arrangements, ­including a new requirement for green groups to commit between 25 and 50 per cent of their annual spending to environmental remediation to qualify.

Mr Bragg also took aim at ­industry superannuation funds, referring to a Liberal Party analysis of Austral­ian Electoral Commission data suggesting they had made payments of $50m to unions over a decade. He cast doubt on whether the financial nexus ­between unions and industry super funds was legitimate, calling the flow of funds a “whole range of fuzzy payments”.

“I don’t think they are all legitimate payments,” he said. “The ­answer here is better governance.”

Led by the Minister for Financial Services, Kelly O’Dwyer, the government is looking at reforms that would require industry funds to increase the number of independent directors on their boards.