Albanese’s $22.7 billion spendathon a lobbyist honeypot

“Vital reforms are necessary to federal lobbying regulation, particularly its extension to in-house lobbyists and the publication of ministerial diaries.”

While the federal support for the companies followed standard processes within the government, the commitments add to concern about transparency and lobbying when some outside observers want more disclosure about how deals are done.

A Senate inquiry into lobbying has led to a stalemate over reforms, with crossbench MPs and senators pushing for a regime that forces ministers to reveal contacts with lobbyists, requires hundreds more lobbyists to disclose their work and restricts political donations.

The current regime, put in place by Labor under prime ministers Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard, says lobbyists who work for independent firms must disclose their companies and clients on a federal register, but this does not include “in-house” executives who work for big companies or industry associations.

Crossbenchers including senator David Pocock and independent MP Monique Ryan want the register to include all lobbyists, given a 500 per cent increase in donations to the major parties from lobbyists and industry groups over the past two decades.

In one example of the deals being done under the “made in Australia” agenda, lithium company Liontown Resources, which is backed by mining billionaire Gina Rinehart, hired lobbying firm GRA Partners in March last year to help smooth its talks with federal ministers.

In deals struck late last year and confirmed in March, the company gained $110 million from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and $120 million from Export Finance Australia for the Kathleen Valley lithium project in Western Australia, in a deal unveiled by Resources Minister Madeleine King.

The federal support helped Liontown while it sought a long-term funding deal with South Korean giant LG, which was unveiled last week. A spokesman said the company no longer expected to draw on the federal assistance. While GRA Partners acts as a lobbyist for Liontown, the company said it did not use the firm to lobby or set up meetings with the EFA or CEFC.

Even when agreements have been reached without lobbyists joining the negotiations, some companies turn to the firms afterwards to cement the deals. Arafura Rare Earths, also backed by Rinehart, gained $840 million from the Critical Minerals Facility and the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility for the Nolans lithium mine and refinery in the Northern Territory, announced by Albanese and King in March. Arafura hired GRA Partners as a lobbyist the next month.

Northern Minerals gained $5.9 million for the Halls Creek rare earths project in May last year, but this was only one part of its relationship with Canberra. With Chinese investor Wu Tao trying to build up his stake in the miner, triggering government concerns about a Chinese stranglehold on critical minerals, the company hired Fitzpatrick, the former Labor adviser, last November.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers on June 3 ordered Wu and his funds to sell down their stakes in Northern Minerals after an investigation by the Foreign Investment Review Board.

In another example, Queensland Pacific Metals, which is developing an energy and chemicals hub in Townsville, gained $250 million from Export Finance Australia in December 2021. It has sought more help for its project, which aims to process laterite ore from New Caledonia to produce nickel and cobalt for batteries.

The company hired March, of the lobbying firm Counsel House, in May last year, after it gained a $5 million federal grant announced by King. March has worked for Rudd and was Labor’s deputy director of communications for the 2013 federal election campaign.

While this masthead contacted the lobbying firms and their clients, most declined to comment.

Fitzpatrick, whose firm Fitzpatrick & Co Advisory has more than 20 clients including Northern Minerals, the Pharmacy Guild and Google, said he had been advising businesses at state and federal levels for many years, but acknowledged things were changing.

“I’m not new, but there are new faces all the time because it continues to be a growing industry and other advisory firms from law to planning and capital raising are coming onto the scene because there is demand,” he said.

Fitzpatrick was an adviser to Labor state ministers in NSW before working as a lobbyist and returning to government as an adviser to Gillard as prime minister, as well as working for Rudd in his brief return to the leadership before the 2013 election.

“Government is bigger, more rigorous and complex than any other factor impacting business, communities and not-for-profits,” he said.

“That’s why there is a higher value being placed on professional advice from those who have spent years learning and understanding government processes.”

Like several other lobbyists, Fitzpatrick has backed the argument for an expanded register of lobbyists to track who is seeking to influence government.

The system has become more robust, he said: “Meetings are logged. Lobbyists and their clients are on public registers and must adhere to codes of conduct or risk being struck off. Ministerial diaries are released.”

The current regime requires independent lobbying firms to disclose their ownership, staff and client lists to the Attorney-General’s Department for public disclosure. Still, it does not require ministers to disclose their meetings.

The subsidies in the Future Made in Australia policy are expected to make lobbying even more important because of the direct link between government decisions and a company’s bottom line.

Tech start-up PsiQuantum gained advice from former Labor adviser Lidija Ivanovski and her firm Brookline Advisory to gain a $940 million investment in April to set up a quantum computing facility in Brisbane.

That decision sparked media reports about the lobbying effort to convince Industry Minister Ed Husic to proceed with the deal with a relatively unknown and untested Australian company. The Coalition is demanding the release of documents to explain how the investment was evaluated.

Mining giant Glencore gained $35 million in federal cash in April to cut the use of fossil fuels at its Murrin Murrin cobalt and nickel mine in WA while using lobbying firm Anacta Strategies, which is led by former Queensland Labor adviser Moorhead, as well as GRACosway. Anacta confirmed it lobbied for Glencore but said the company set up the meetings about Murrin Murrin on its own.

Building materials company Adbri, which in April gained $50 million to reduce emissions at its cement operations, also uses GRACosway as its federal lobbyist.

Another critical minerals supplier, Iluka Resources, has used TG Public Affairs, the firm where former Labor cabinet minister Stephen Conroy is a special adviser, while it seeks more federal support.

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