Lots more names for Crikey’s Real Register of Lobbyists

Friday, 4 April 2008

Lots more names for Crikey’s Real Register of Lobbyists

Bernard Keane writes:

The tips have been pouring in for Crikey’s Real Register of Lobbyists. As Crikey quickly discovered yesterday, Stephen Loosley has NOT made a lightning shift back to PWC, but is happily ensconced at Babcock and Brown. Apologies to the former Senator – the culprit now sports a very attractive First Dog On The Moon bullet in the head.

Although we gave the proposed Register of Lobbyists a thorough serve yesterday, we should still note that it represents a significant step forward in terms of greater transparency, and if nothing else will be a start for a mechanism that will hopefully eventually encompass everyone looking to influence government. And you can bet John Faulkner is not making himself especially popular within the ALP with this and other reforms to improve political accountability.

Keep the tips coming — Crikey is especially interested in a very specific category of lobbyists – those with only a handful of clients, who have business cards and email addresses at each, so they look like employees (and thus don’t need to register), but are in fact full-time third-party lobbyists. Know any? Tell us.

And an experienced lobbyist also points out that the code requires that lobbyists not “cause or threaten any detriment” when engaging with Government representatives. This would presumably include pointing out the negative electoral consequences of a policy, or noting that a particular option might cause prices to rise or some other negative outcome.

Here are the new entries:

Finance