NSW Committee proposes changes for lobbyists and political donations

A NSW Parliamentary Committee inquiring into land dealings and planning decisions released an interim report that recommends Government action on lobbyists and political donations. Some of the proposals regarding lobbyists, for example a ban on lobbying for a period after separation from government would bring NSW into line with other jurisdictions: the Committee recommmends (Recommendation 10) NSW review other Australian Lobbyist Codes of Conduct and report to Parliament on improvements.

However other recommendations would move NSW in the direction of Canada's more robust reporting and transparency requirements:

Recommendation 7
That the Premier strengthen the NSW Lobbyist Code of Conduct to require that each minister is informed at regular intervals of contact between government representatives and registered lobbyists.

Recommendation 8
That the Premier strengthen the NSW Lobbyist Code of Conduct by publishing a report on the internet at regular intervals detailing contact between government representatives and registered lobbyists. The report should include the name of the lobbyist, date of contact, meeting attendees (if applicable) and issues discussed.

Recommendation 9
That the Premier strengthen the NSW Lobbyist Code of Conduct by establishing protocols to be applied to all meetings between government representatives and registered lobbyists. At a minimum, the meeting protocols should contain guidelines regarding venues, properly recorded minutes and the requirement for the third party presence of at least one government representative.

On political donations, the Committee notes recent commitments to change by the Premier but recommends full adoption of 47 recommmendations made in a Committee Report in June 2008 2008, only 19 of which have been accepted by the Government to date:

Recommendation 11
That the Premier adopt the model for funding of the NSW electoral scheme proposed by the NSW Legislative Council Select Committee on Electoral and Political Party Funding, and implement the Committee’s recommendations in full. The key provisions of the model are to:
• ban political donations by corporations and other organisations
• cap individual donations
• cap election spending
• make disclosure of donations and election spending more timely and transparent
• introduce greater policing of the electoral funding scheme, and tougher penalties for
non-compliance.