David Farrar sets out a summary of some of the criticisms of the Lobbying Disclosure Bill in submissions to the Government Administration select committee.
I didn't make a submission on the bill, though now I wish I had.
If this bill were a horse it would have been shot. It's laudable that attempts should be made to provide more transparency to the entire lobbying process, but the bill as drafted appears to make lobbyists of people and groups that would probably never consider themselves to be anything of the sort. The disclosure requirements may result in fewer people engaging with their elected representatives, for fear of being regarded as a lobbyist.
Most submissions on the bill appear to be critical of it. The submission by the Law Society was particularly savage, describing many aspects of the bill as "illogical" and condemning attempts to make law in this area as "legislation by slogan".
It's hard to see how this sort of bill would make a positive difference, even if the numerous flaws could be fixed. It would be nice to change the world so that our political processes were more transparent, but it will take more that the passing of a law to make this happen.
Someone, please, put this bill out of its misery.
Thursday, October 25, 2012
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I am neither here nor there on the Lobbying Disclosure Bill and am not sufficiently familiar with the systems but Australia has a similar-looking system and don't seem to have any problems?
ReplyDeletehttp://lobbyists.pmc.gov.au/
The Australian Lobbying Code is much narrower in scope. It applies to a much narrower range of people and organisations, and covers a narrower range of activities.
DeleteDoes it actually work? I'm not sure.
I read the NZLS submission.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I thought the authors pulled their punches and were far too nice in what they said.
Having said that I think you will find Ms Walker will conduct an heroic defence of the bill, although the outcome will be similar to that of the Battle of Little Big Horn.