17th Mar 2014, 4:45 PM – Senate Motions - Regulation of Lobbyists - Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying

The majority voted against a motion introduced by Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon, which means it was rejected.

Motion text

That the Senate—

(a) notes:

(i) the public has a right to know who may benefit from the work of lobbyists,

(ii) the current regulation that covers lobbyists is deficient as it does not cover in-house lobbyists and lobbying of non-government and backbench members of Parliament (MPs),

(iii) in its submission to the inquiry into the operation of the Lobbying Code of Conduct, the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet estimated that around 5 000 lobbyists would be required to register if in-house lobbyists were covered by the scheme, compared to 934 entities and individuals currently on the register, and

(iv) the recent controversy about links between lobbying company Australian Public Affairs and the office of the Assistant Minister for Health (Senator Nash); and

(b) calls on the government to:

(i) establish an Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying,

(ii) provide a legislative framework for the regulation of lobbying,

(iii) expand the scope of who is the subject of lobbying to include all MPs and senators, including cross benchers and opposition MPs,

(iv) expand the scope of lobbying to include corporations and organisations employing in-house lobbyists, and

(v) ban the payment of success fees to lobbyists.