Last month there was another win for the Australian public – the enactment of a new foreign influence register for lobbyists which will track and bring accountability to ex-politicians who, with their knowledge of the inner-working of political systems and contacts help companies.
Politicians swapping their seats from the parliamentary floor to lucrative corporate positions has eroded public trust in government. In 2016 after a long time in government and leading the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement as Trade Minister, Andrew Robb quit Parliament, a day before a federal election. He started “an $880,000-a-year job with a billionaire closely aligned to the Chinese Communist Party” (McKenzie, N., Baker, R. and Uhlmann, C., 2017) at a firm called Landbridge who, in 2015, was successful in leasing the controversial 99 year lease of the Darwin Port. A week before the deadline he left Landbridge.
Robb is not unique, other politicians have held lucrative positions after their time in politics, many are deciding to leave their positions before it is time for them to register. This includes former foreign minister Bob Carr who stepped down as Director of the Australia-China Relations Institute which has strong ties to the Chinese Communist Party. Former Victorian premier John Brumby also announced in February that he is also quitting the Australian board of Chinese telecommunication brand, Huawei.
This was all interesting timing, before the deadline of 1 March 2019. “The new register is designed to ensure that, if a person is advocating on behalf of a foreign power, it is declared” (McKenzie, B. and Baker, R., 2019).
The Scheme also forces former cabinet ministers turned lobbyists to register as a lobbyist. “Providing false and misleading information or destroying records may lead to a prison term of up to six years for individuals and fines of $88,200 for companies” (Garrick, J. 2019).