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| Photo: Larry Anthony is the executive director of SAS Consulting Group. (ABC News: Simon Beardell) |
rules need a major overhaul following today’s report
<http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/
on the latest lobbying scandal to hit Canberra.
National Party President Larry Anthony has exploited a loophole in the Lobbyists Code of Conduct by personally declaring he is not a lobbyist.
“The fact that Mr Anthony’s name does not appear on the public register of
lobbyists exposes what a farce the Code of Conduct is,” Senator Rhiannon
said.
“Mr Anthony and the Nationals have shown that the Emperor has no clothes
when it comes to rules for lobbyists.
“Mr Anthony’s SAS Consulting Group has clients whose profit margins rise
and fall depending on government policy.
“SAS clients include energy companies Santos and Delta Electricity, the
mining company Shenhua Watermark and Indue that has already won government
contracts for the cashless welfare card.
“Mr Anthony’s company boasts in its promotional material of its extensive
networking as a government relations firm. Surely that is a definition of
lobbying.
“The current lobbying rules are already minimal and now Mr Anthony has
found the way to avoid the limited scrutiny that the Code of Conduct
provides.
“When parliament resumes I will urge my colleagues to support a major
review into lobbying.
“In 2012 I won Senate support for a review of the lobbying code of conduct.
Despite strong evidence that the Code should cover all lobbyists and all
MPs the Coalition and Labor voted together then to block any reforms.
“This latest scandal coming on top of recent decisions of former Coalition
ministers Billson, Robb and Macfarlane to work for companies that will
benefit from their ministerial experience is further proof of the need for
far reaching reforms of the Lobbyist Code of Conduct,” Senator Rhiannon
said.
30 September 2017
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