Ms Sherry Perreault:

I thank the Deputy for her question. Generally speaking, the Act is operating well and that includes its enforcement provisions. To date we have levied about 2,000 fixed payment notices for late returns under the registration. We have also launched prosecutions against people who have failed to register their lobbying activities or failed to submit returns. I am pleased to say that in most instances we were able to achieve compliance without having to go all the way through the prosecution process. The general idea is for us to try to achieve compliance in the first instance.

In terms of whether the Act is operating well or if there are other areas that there are challenges, obviously, post-employment is one of the key ones. While the Act sets out clear and easily understandable post-employment provisions they are not currently enforceable. In our view that is a pretty significant lacuna in the legislation that should be filled.

In terms of other gaps, the recommendations we have made in our submissions to the legislative reviews highlight those. Some of the ones I mentioned in my opening statement would include, for example, having the ability to close the door to non-compliant lobbyists, which is important, as well as having an anti-avoidance clause in place.