John Crown (Independent)

I echo some of the comments made by my university colleague, Senator Mullen, on lobbying, an issue about which I am particularly troubled. This area requires legislation, oversight and intervention. I wish to ensure it is applied in all the areas where it will make the greatest difference. On a number of occasions since entering the House, I have had representations made to me by various interest groups on behalf of a number of organisations, including charities and commercial entities. On a few occasions, those who made the representations were accompanied by people who were obviously paid public relations consultants, that is, persons who were not expert in the area where the particular policy was being advanced. On such occasions, I have queried the legitimacy of the presence of such persons at the meetings. Without being rude, I have, on a few occasions, told them I was not particularly interested in their presence and if people wanted to advance an agenda to me which had some legitimacy, they should do so without the intermediation of somebody without expertise in the area. I am referring essentially to hired guns coming to the House to do work on behalf of others.

I ask the deputy Leader to ensure Senators are given an opportunity to have some input into the debate on proposed legislation in this area. I will cite one precedent in this respect. In recent years, there has been considerable discussion of the problems caused by the banks. Although I believe the banks acted illegally in some cases, immorally in a number of cases and stupidly in many cases, I also believe they acted rationally at all times if one assumes they were trying to maximise short-term profits. The persons who bear proximate and greatest responsibility for the economic collapse were those who were responsible for ensuring things of this nature did not occur, namely, the politicians and officials involved in the regulation of banking and other sectors.

The same type of logic could be applied to lobbyists if one understands that their sole purpose is to make money, which they do by advancing their cause. They behave rationally and while they may be former politicians, they still have the rights of private citizens when making contact with individuals. We need to regulate the lobbying industry which requires a high level of transparency. We also need to ensure every meeting between a hired gun and politician or official is minuted and subject to transparency. However, we also need another code of conduct for the politicians who deal with lobbyists. It must be transparent because it is the responsibility of politicians to act responsibly and adopt a sceptical view of the input of non-expert public relations professionals who are coming into the House to do nothing more than peddle their personal influence, former political affiliations and social contacts to influence public policy. For this reason, when we regulate the lobbying industry we must also ensure that on the flipside of such regulations is a set of a recommendations on how politicians should behave when dealing with mercenaries of this type.