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senate vote 2014-03-17#4
Edited by
mackay staff
on
2016-11-04 06:32:02
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Title
Motions — Regulation of Lobbyists- Motions - Regulation of Lobbyists - Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying
Description
<p class="speaker">Lee Rhiannon</p><p>I move:</p><p class="italic">That the Senate—</p>- The majority voted against a motion introduced by Greens Senator [Lee Rhiannon](https://theyvoteforyou.org.au/people/senate/nsw/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.*
<p class="italic">(a) notes:</p><p class="italic">(i) the public has a right to know who may benefit from the work of lobbyists,</p><p class="italic">(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),</p><p class="italic">(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</p><p class="italic">(iv) the recent controversy about links between lobbying company Australian Public Affairs and the office of the Assistant Minister for Health (Senator Nash); and</p><p class="italic">(b) calls on the government to:</p><p class="italic">(i) establish an Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying,</p><p class="italic">(ii) provide a legislative framework for the regulation of lobbying,</p><p class="italic">(iii) expand the scope of who is the subject of lobbying to include all MPs and senators, including cross benchers and opposition MPs,</p><p class="italic">(iv) expand the scope of lobbying to include corporations and organisations employing in-house lobbyists, and</p><p class="italic">(v) ban the payment of success fees to lobbyists.</p> <p class="speaker">Scott Ryan</p><p>Mr Acting Deputy President, I seek leave to make a short statement.</p> <p class="speaker">Cory Bernardi</p><p>Leave is granted for one minute.</p> <p class="speaker">Scott Ryan</p><p>I hasten to begin this by saying that the terms of this motion would have captured me in a past life, but Senator Rhiannon's motion is a little rich coming from a person who opposed my notice of motion of 14 August 2012 concerning former senator Bob Carr's interest in his former lobbying business, RJ Carr Pty Ltd, while Minister for Foreign Affairs. My motion noted that Prime Minister Gillard's standard of ministerial ethics required ministers to divest interests in any public company and called on Senator Carr to table advice he had received or relied on regarding compliance with these standards. Further, documents from the Prime Minister's office on this issue went missing after Ms Gillard was deposed as Prime Minister despite Prime Minister Rudd being advised to secure them. Yet today we have Senator Rhiannon purporting to want to tighten regulations on lobbying when she personally, as the Greens' spokesperson in this area, allowed Senator Carr to continue this breach. On 5 March the Greens' leader, Senator Milne, proclaimed during a censure motion debate that this was the first she had heard of Senator Carr retaining his shareholding. This is untrue. In 2012, together with Senator Rhiannon, Senator Milne voted down my motion seeking clarification— <i>(Time expired)</i></p> <p class="speaker">Cory Bernardi</p><p>The question is that the motion moved by Senator Rhiannon be agreed to.</p>
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