Ministers defend lobbyists as Canberra’s revolving door in spotlight

Ministers insist lobbyists already face “very strict” rules as Canberra’s so-called revolving door comes under scrutiny.

Many who work in Parliament House end up leaving taxpayer funded roles for high-paying gigs with private interest groups, becoming influence agents for sectors they, in some cases, helped regulate.

Donning an orange pass, they can walk publicly restricted halls of Capital Hill unescorted, setting up coffees with parliamentarians, staffers and journalists alike.

Environment Minister Murray Watt on Monday warned against vilifying lobbyists, insisting “there is a high degree of disclosure and transparency about that already”.

“We already have very strict lobbyist rules in place within government that regulate, for example, the activities of former politicians, former staffers, periods of time that they can’t lobby and use information that they’ve been privy to,” he told the ABC’s News Breakfast.

But not all those pushing private interests in Parliament House are on the official register, with an upcoming ABC investigation probing a loophole that lets industry associations and companies skirt federal lobbying regulations.

Only professional lobbyists, or third-party go-betweens, are captured by the register.

Senator Watt, who has gained a reputation as Anthony Albanese’s fixer, said it was “part of government that we do have people come and lobby us”.

“Pretty much every meeting I have is about someone, whether it be a conservation group or a business, seeking assistance for government for something, but that disclosure regime is in place and it’s important that it is,” he said.

He also said barring ex-defence ministers and former senior Australian Defence Force officials who want to contribute to public policy would be unfair.

“They obviously want to keep making a contribution to public policy, and that is their right,” Mr Conroy said, speaking to ABC’s Radio National.

“I don’t think people should be excluded from working in the Australian defence industry automatically, just because they happened to be a defence minister.”

Originally published as Ministers defend lobbyists as Canberra’s revolving door in spotlight