Editing Lobbying (section)

===Australia===
{{further|Lobbying in South Australia}}
Since the 1980s, lobbying in [[Australia]] has grown from a small industry of a few hundred employees to a multi-billion dollar per year industry. What was once the preserve of big multinational companies and at a more local level (property developers, for example, [[Urban Taskforce Australia]]) has morphed into an industry that employs more than 10,000 people and represents every facet of human endeavour.<ref>{{cite book|last=Fitzgerald|first=Julian|title=Lobbying In Australia: You Can't Expect Anything to Change If You Don't Speak Up|year=2006}}</ref>

Academic John Warhurst from the [[Australian National University]] noted that over this time, retired politicians have increasingly turned political lobbyists to leverage their networks and experience for private gain. In 2018 he noted that two of the top three [[Howard government]] ministers had become lobbyists: [[Alexander Downer]] and [[Peter Costello]], and that the trend could be traced back to the [[Hawke government|Hawke Government]] of 1983. [[Mick Young]] stated that by 1983 the lobbying profession was an established part of the democratic political process in Canberra. Warhurst attests that by 2018, "political leader-lobbyists" were an established part of the same process. During the 1980s, political leaders traded on their own names, like [[Bob Hawke]], or joined the "respectable" end of the lobbying spectrum, working for law firms or banks, like former New South Wales premiers [[Nick Greiner]] and [[Bob Carr]]. In 2008, Alexander Downer formed the lobbying firm Bespoke Approach, along with former [[Australian Labor Party|Labor]] minister [[Nick Bolkus]] and [[Ian Smith (lobbyist)|Ian Smith]], who is married to former [[Australian Democrats]] leader, [[Natasha Stott Despoja|Natasha Stott-Despoja]]. Peter Costello carried two former staffers to work with him in his lobbying firm, ECG Consulting: Jonathan Epstein and David Gazard. Politicians can become exposed to allegations of conflicts of interest when they both lobby and advise governments. Examples include Peter Costello.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Warhurst |first=John |date=2013-03-13 |title=Shopping for influence |url=https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6158853/shopping-for-influence/ |access-date=2022-11-03 |website=The Canberra Times |language=en-AU}}</ref>

Political party staff often form lobbying firms or dominate their ranks. Former Howard chief-of-staff Grahame Morris is the director of Barton Deakin Government Relations. His colleagues there include David Alexander (former Costello staffer), [[Sallyanne Atkinson]] (former Lord Mayor of Brisbane and former federal [[Liberal Party of Australia|Liberal Party]] candidate), Howard staffer John Griffin and former New South Wales Liberal Party leader, Peter Collins. The Labor "sister" company is Hawker Britton, so named as both firms are owned by STW Group. In 2013, Hawker Britton had 113 client companies on its books.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Grattan |first=Michelle |title=Liberal lobbyists look to the good times |url=http://theconversation.com/liberal-lobbyists-look-to-the-good-times-13406 |access-date=2022-11-03 |website=The Conversation |date=10 April 2013 |language=en}}</ref>

In 2013, there were just under 280 firms on the Federal Australian Register of Lobbyists. Steve Carney of Carney Associated says that lobbyists "try to leave no thumbprints on the glass, no footprints in the sand. The best lobbying is when nobody knows you were there."<ref name=":2" /> [[Mark Textor]] of campaign advisory group [[Crosby Textor Group|Crosby Textor]] describes political lobbying as a "pathetic miserable industry".<ref name=":2" />

==== Supermarket sector lobbying ====
Supermarket chains in Australia engage lobbying firms with political weight in their ranks. Australian Supermarket giant [[Coles Supermarkets|Coles]] is represented by both ECG Consulting and Bespoke Approach, while its own parent company, [[Wesfarmers]], has former West Australian premier [[Alan Carpenter]] in charge of corporate affairs. Competitor Woolworths has a government relations team composed of former Labor and Liberal advisers, under the direction of a former leader of the National Party, Andrew Hall. [[Aldi]] engages GRA (Government Relations Australia), one of Australia's largest lobbying firms, whose staff includes former Federal Labor treasurer, [[John Dawkins]].<ref name=":1" />

====Public lobbyist registers====
A register of federal lobbyists is kept by the [[Australian Government]] and is accessible to the public via its website.<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://lobbyists.pmc.gov.au/who_register.cfm|title = Who is on the register?|access-date = 2015-04-15|website = Department of the Prime Minister & Cabinet|publisher = Australian Government|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181201093418/https://lobbyists.pmc.gov.au/who_register.cfm|archive-date = 2018-12-01|url-status = dead}}</ref> Similar registers for State government lobbyists were introduced between 2007 and 2009 around Australia. Since April 2007 in Western Australia, only lobbyists listed on the state's register are allowed to contact a government representative for the purpose of lobbying.<ref>{{Cite web|url = https://www.lobbyists.wa.gov.au/Pages/About.aspx|title = About the Register|date = 2011-07-20|access-date = 2015-04-15|website = Public Sector Commission – Register of Lobbyists|publisher = Government of Western Australia|archive-date = 2015-02-28|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150228055531/https://www.lobbyists.wa.gov.au/Pages/About.aspx|url-status = dead}}</ref> Similar rules have applied in Tasmania since 1 September 2009<ref>{{Cite web|title = Register of Lobbyists : Register of Lobbyists|url = http://lobbyists.dpac.tas.gov.au/|website = lobbyists.dpac.tas.gov.au|access-date = 2015-07-03|archive-date = 2015-07-03|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150703192912/http://lobbyists.dpac.tas.gov.au/|url-status = dead}}</ref> and in [[South Australia]] and [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]] since 1 December 2009.<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.dpc.sa.gov.au/south-australian-lobbyist-code-conduct-and-register|title = South Australian Lobbyist Code of Conduct and Public Register|access-date = 2015-04-15|website = Department of Premier & Cabinet|publisher = Government of South Australia|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150411075116/http://dpc.sa.gov.au/south-australian-lobbyist-code-conduct-and-register|archive-date = 2015-04-11|url-status = dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.lobbyistsregister.vic.gov.au/lobbyistsregister/index.cfm?event=faq|title = Questions and answers for Victorian Register of Lobbyists|date = 2014-06-20|website = Victorian Public Sector Commissioner – Register of Lobbyists|publisher = State Government of Victoria}}</ref> A criticism of the lobbyist register is that it only captures professional third-party lobbyists, not employees of companies which directly lobby government. An example of this is BHP, which employs Geoff Walsh, a key advisor to Bob Hawke as an in-house lobbyist.<ref name=":2" />

In 2022, The Mercury published a complete list of lobbyists registered at the Tasmanian Parliament. The field was dominated by former politicians, advisers and journalists in 2016.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Smith |first=Matt |date=2016-10-22 |title=Who plays the lobby game in Tasmania |work=Mercury |url=https://www.themercury.com.au/news/politics/who-plays-the-lobby-game-in-tasmania/news-story/537bf8344fff4fcb3ef0a689d64be3ce |access-date=2022-11-03}}</ref>