Time to lobby for lobbying regulations

The Opportunity Party is making lobbying reform a major policy platform, pushing for stronger regulations to help combat the creeping modern corruption in political decision-making.

While old-fashioned corruption, such as bribery, embezzlement and kickbacks, are thankfully rare in Aotearoa, there are almost weekly headlines highlighting examples of the undue influence of wealth and commercial interests in public policymaking.

The list of corrupting influences is long: Cabinet ministers resigning to take up lobbying roles, bad faith avoidance of Official Information Act requests, commercial projects fast-tracked in ways that avoid environmental scrutiny, ministerial conflicts of interest, and record numbers of laws passed under urgency.

The Opportunity party’s ‘clean up politics’ policies include regulating lobbying, reforming political donations and establishing an anti-corruption body. Journalist Jack Tame applied his usual incisive, searching interview style to Opportunity leader Qiulae Wong on Q+A last Sunday, asking Wong how these policies would actually work: How do you define a lobbyist? What would be the stand-down period to slow the revolving door between the high levels of government and commercial lobbying positions? Who should be able to donate to political parties?

Wong responded well to those questions, but, as the challenge of restoring trust in government emerges as a major election issue, it’s worth unpacking both the nature of the problem and the range of solutions being proposed.

I co-chair Health Coalition Aotearoa, a group of more than 70 health organisations advocating for strong policies to reduce the harms from tobacco, vaping, alcohol and unhealthy food. Is HCA a lobby group as would be defined in any legislation? Yes it would, because we are trying to influence government decision-making on behalf of the health of the population.

So too Forest & Bird, which advocates on behalf of the environment; and Child Poverty Action Group which advocates on behalf of children; as would commercial lobby firms, unions and other businesses with a significant ‘government relations’ capacity.

Lobbying is an important part of the democratic process. The problem is that the playing field is tilted heavily in favour of big money and commercial-interest lobbying. The consequence is that groups advocating for health, environmental or social causes barely get a look in and struggle to influence policymaking.

New Zealanders were surprised when NZ First insisted in its coalition agreement on repealing the world-leading smokefree legislation when it had not campaigned on such a reversal. The party has also led on other pro-tobacco industry policies.

The repeal of the smokefree legislation was widely welcomed by tobacco industry interests. While current rules mean industry lobbying is not officially documented, a review of available evidence saw New Zealand fall from second place in the 2023 Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index to 53rd in 2025.

Similarly, when Greens co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick’s Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Harm Minimisation) Amendment Bill was drawn from the ballot, the Labour government rejected its proposal to phase out alcohol industry sponsorship of professional and broadcast sport and implemented only the part of the bill that strengthened Local Alcohol Policies (in itself a long overdue and positive step).

This is despite alcohol causing more than $9 billion in harm every year in New Zealand, contributing to 900 deaths, 1250 cancer cases and 3000 hospitalisations.

No New Zealand government has lifted a finger to reduce childhood obesity through well-proven policies such as a tax on sugary drinks, bans of marketing junk food to children or requiring all schools to have healthy food policies. The ultra-processed food industry is so powerful that I can only conclude that it spooks successive health ministers into inaction.

The OECD gave New Zealand a zero rating for its lack of policies to manage the risks of lobbying. Out of 47 OECD countries, we are bottom of the class when most countries have already enacted laws and regulations. None of these lobbying regulations, including in places like Ireland, Australia, Canada or France, are perfect, but they do create transparency and accountability.

Victoria University of Wellington’s Max Rashbrooke did a thorough review of the international experience on lobbying regulations commissioned by Health Coalition Aotearoa, and Dr Jim Mather investigated the implications for Māori for HCA. In this way, HCA could identify the international best-practice laws that would suit New Zealand.

HCA, with partners Helen Clark Foundation and Transparency International NZ and many other supportive groups launched a ‘Let’s Level the Playing Field’ campaign earlier this year, calling for similar policies to the Opportunity party’s.

Other political parties we have spoken to clearly recognise the problem that needs to be addressed – the oversized influence of private money on public policymaking and the resultant loss of trust in governments. Hopefully, we will see wider support for these pro-democracy policies from these parties before the election.

The components of a strong lobbying law would include an online, publicly accessible register of all lobby organisations (above a certain size) and their formal meetings with ministers and government officials. Of course, individuals meeting with their MPs over particular issues would not be included. There would also be a mandatory code of conduct for lobbyists to ensure lobbying is conducted in an ethical and transparent way.

A stand-down period for former ministers, MPs and senior staffers would also preclude them from lobbying the government on issues where they had official dealings for a stated time, as done in many countries. Ireland has a one-year stand-down period with serious sanctions, including a fine of €25,000, Canada has a five-year stand-down and Australia 28 months.

HCA has researched the options and would like to see politicians supporting establishment of an Integrity Commission, better management of conflicts of interest, a rewriting of the 43-year-old official information legislation and tighter restrictions on political donations in order to level the lobbying playing field.

I have spent decades studying the impacts of unhealthy food, tobacco and alcohol industries on health outcomes. I have seen firsthand the imbalance between public-interest advocates and well-resourced commercial actors that employ professional lobbyists and enjoy regular access to ministers and officials. Will our elected leaders be prepared to act when that evidence collides with powerful commercial interests? Until they are, preventable harms will continue to burden families, communities and the health system.