Government rejects proposed changes to lobbying rules

The Queensland Government has rejected calls to dramatically redefine the legal definition of a ‘lobbyist’.  The move averts a new regulatory burden for advocates who interact with the State Government on behalf of their members or company.

The Government considered the recommendations of the four-yearly strategic review of the role of the Integrity Commissioner, undertaken by QUT Vice Chancellor – Peter Coaldrake. The change proposed in the review would have expanded the significant compliance requirements of the legislation to capture in-house advocates, non-profit entities, and effectively anyone who wanted to communicate their views on matters of public interest to the government or opposition.

The Property Council successfully argued that entities constituted to represent the interest of their members, such as the Property Council of Australia, have clear transparency about who they represent and what outcomes they aim to achieve from their interaction with government.

The Government has accepted a Parliamentary Committee’s determination that the current lobbyist regulation regime achieves its purpose of ensuring transparency in the representations made to government officials and therefore could not support its expansion beyond fee-for-service lobbyists.

While recommended changes to the definition of ‘lobbyist’ were not supported, a number of other changes proposed as part of the review were agreed to by the Government, including allowing former members access to advice services for a period of two years.