The review,which has been accepting public submissions and conducting interviews,was told of one occasion where a person employed by a consulting firm had negotiated a “success fee” for their work because they “did not technically fall under the definition of a ‘lobbyist’.”
Such fees,paid to a person by their employer or a third-party lobbying firm for landing a favourable outcome,were banned bythen-premier Anna Bligh in 2010. Concerns raised at the time remain that those who did not fit the strict definition of a lobbyist could slip through gaps in the regulation.
“Registered lobbyists have been variously estimated as representing around 20 per cent of the total number of people involved in lobbying,” Coaldrake wrote in his interim report,published on Thursday afternoon.
Coaldrake also highlighted to the “artistic obscuring” of details given by the third parties now required to be registered to lobby government on behalf of clients in the official contact log,in a nod torecent reporting by this masthead about the opaque labels used to categorise lobbying attempts.
He also warned that the “dual roles” of some party-aligned lobbyists could leave the public “sceptical about even the strongest protections”. But he held back from making any recommendations — including around the structure of the Integrity Commissioner’s advisory and regulatory roles — until his final report due in June.
Coaldrake wrote that the public sector had in recent generations been “weakened” by the rising influence of ministerial advisors and the widespread use of external consultants which often poach experienced public officials.