Ex-Labor MPs, advisers flock to lobbying roles

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Former senior figures in the Andrews government including some linked to Labor branch-stacking and who were bumped before the state election have joined the swelling ranks of lobbyists seeking favour in Spring Street, fuelling calls for reform to Victoria’s integrity rules.

Ex-frontbenchers and MPs such as Luke Donnellan, Marlene Kairouz and Cesar Melhem are among the growing list of Labor luminaries selling access and influence in the state’s corridors of power.

Luke Donnellan, Marlene Kairouz and Cesar Melhem.Credit: The Age

The burgeoning number of former MPs and staffers among lobbyist ranks has fuelled calls for reform of the state’s outdated lobbying rules.

An analysis by The Age shows that almost 65 per cent of lobbying firms registered in Victoria have lobbyists on their books who are former MPs, ministerial staffers or party officials.

Other former Andrews ministers on the state’s voluntary lobbyist register include Phil Dalidakis, Gavin Jennings and former Brumby government energy minister Theo Theophanous – the key figure in the anti-corruption watchdog’s Operation Clara investigation tabled in February. IBAC found Theophanous’ conduct was improper, not corrupt. Theophanous declined to comment when contacted by The Age.

Even more prevalent among the lobbyists registered in Victoria are former ministerial staffers and party officials. Notable among them is former Labor state secretary Stephen Newnham, prominent former Labor assistant state secretary Kosmos Samaras and former Brumby-era adviser Ben Hart.

Among the former MPs now on the register is ex-upper house MP and one-time Australian Workers’ Union Victorian leader, Melhem.

One of his clients listed on the register is building firm Winslow. In 2019 Melhem was fined more than $20,000 by the Federal Court for breaching the rules of the Australian Workers’ Union in deals he did as union leader under which Winslow and other companies paid the union almost half a million dollars, supposedly for employees’ union dues. Justice Debra Mortimer found that in most cases, the employees concerned did not know they had become union members.

Melhem, Donellan and Kairouz were among former ministers and MPs aligned with ex-Labor powerbroker Adem Somyurek, who quit the ALP amid the controversy over “industrial-scale” branch stacking initially revealed by The Age and 60 Minutes and later featured in the Victorian Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission’s (IBAC) Operation Watts report.

Melhem said that lobbying made up only about 1 per cent of his post-parliamentary work and that providing industrial relations advice was now his primary job.

“But just in case I had to ever meet with government departments or VicRoads or other parts of government, I thought I should put myself on the register,” Melhem said. “The important thing about lobbying is transparency.”

Responding from overseas to emailed questions, Donnellan said he did not lobby on issues relevant to his former portfolios, nor in his lobbyist role had he met any ministers or staffers.

He did not respond to questions about the regulation of lobbying in Victoria. Kairouz declined to comment.

Integrity experts, including Monash University associate professor Yee-Fui Ng, say Victoria’s regulation of lobbying is weak compared with NSW, Queensland and overseas jurisdictions such as Canada and the US. “Victoria has quite a way to go in terms of achieving more robust regulation of lobbying.”

Former Liberal MPs and staffers are also plentiful among registered lobbyists and include former federal frontbenchers Christopher Pyne and Nick Minchin, ex-state MPs Bill Forwood and Russell Joseph, and Rick Brown – one-time adviser to Abbott government minister, Kevin Andrews.

But the ALP’s political dominance at federal and state level is reflected in the density of Labor figures.

Former Andrews minister Dalidakis said being on the register “is about transparency and integrity, about what we do and what the public should expect”.

“The question is not which individuals are on the register, but which ones are not.”

Victoria’s lobbying rules are not enshrined in legislation, which means that a breach is not a crime or unlawful.

Unlike NSW and Queensland, Victoria’s rules are not enforceable and Victorian ministers are not required to keep public diaries of their meetings and contacts with lobbyists.

The only penalty for a lobbyist contravening the Victorian code is that a lobbyist may lose their registration. In July last year, the government confirmed to The Age that not a single lobbyist had been deregistered in the decade since the code came into effect.

Weaknesses in the rules have come under the spotlight repeatedly, including through the IBAC’s October special report on donations and lobbying, Operation Clara, which probed the lobbying activities of Theophanous while also a board member of the Victorian Planning Authority.

The Age’s reporting has revealed questions over conflict of interest around former planning minister Lizzie Blandthorn and her lobbyist brother, John-Paul Blandthorn.

Lack of transparency around lobbying will also feature in IBAC’s looming Operation Sandon report on allegedly corrupt land deals in Melbourne’s south-east.

Donnellan resigned from Andrews’ frontbench in October 2021 after he was named in an IBAC hearing as being part of Somyurek’s network. Operation Watts found Donnellan admitted to having paid for other people’s memberships but found that was a breach of internal party rules and therefore outside IBAC’s jurisdiction.

Kairouz denied she was involved in the branch stacking but resigned from cabinet in June 2020. The joint IBAC and Ombudsman’s Operation Watts report included adverse findings about Somyurek and Kairouz but did not recommend criminal prosecution.

Other Labor-linked figures on the register include former state Labor MPs Gavin Jennings and Carlo Carli and Rudd-Gillard-era MPs Stephen Conroy, Lindsay Tanner and Alan Griffin.

A Victorian government spokesperson stressed that the government had supported “in principle” recommendations in IBAC’s October report on lobbying and from Operation Clara.

“Work is underway to implement these recommendations.”

The spokesperson said the government would also consider the final Operation Sandon report when it is released.

But last month, the government used its majority in parliament to block a Coalition bill backed by the Greens and the entire upper house crossbench to reform Victorian laws consistent with IBAC recommendations from Operation Clara.

Shadow special minister of state David Davis said news of yet more former MPs moving into lobbying made reform even more urgent.

“IBAC has provided sensible practical advice on closing loopholes and strengthening integrity,” Davis said.

Greens leader Samantha Ratnam said the prevalence of former ministers and MPs among lobbyists highlighted the need for stronger integrity laws, including an enforceable code of conduct, and ministerial diaries being made public.

Victorian Greens leader Samantha Ratnam says the state is lagging behind the rest of the country in its integrity laws.Credit: Joe Armao

“Victoria is lagging behind the rest of the country in its integrity laws,” Ratnam said. “The government says it is working on reform but it is going at a snail’s pace.”

Lobbyists are often reluctant to talk about their trade, but former Rudd government adviser Sean Sammon, who is managing director of the York Park Group, said his profession was often misunderstood.

Sammon acknowledged that some lobbyists saw their role being about access and “leveraging old connections”, aimed, for instance, at winning one-off planning or other regulatory approvals.

But he said more professional public affairs specialists worked with clients on longer-term strategies aimed at giving their clients the skills and knowledge to make their best case to government.

“In my experience, the most effective advocate is a well-briefed organisation or company representing themselves,” Sammon said.

He said the age of the lobbyist as a “fixer” was over. “In light of the PwC scandal, the National Anti-Corruption Commission and governance standards, the values of public affairs professionals and the methodology they use is more important than ever.”

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