Lobbyland
-
Lobby Land: the Pharmacy Guild’s powerful influence over health policy
The Pharmacy Guild has been called the ‘most powerful lobby group you’ve never heard of’ and for three decades has had a stranglehold on funding for community pharmacy in Australia. Continue reading »
-
Lobby Land. “Doubt is their product”: The difference between research and academic lobbying (Pro Market Sep 28, 2020)
Research on market power, its causes, and its consequences has received a welcome revival in the past few years. A group of excellent scholars has managed to make progress on rather hot competition policy topics. What’s more, this research was accepted for publication in journals considered to be at the very top of the profession. Continue reading »
-
LobbyLand: Democracy on life support as the revolving door keeps swinging
Australian public policy is now routinely moulded to suit the interests of the highest corporate bidders and the lobbyists who represent their interests. Continue reading »
-
LobbyLand: An Analysis of Australian Industry Associations’ Influence on Climate Policy
This analysis identified five lobbying organisations that stood out as the ‘most obstructive, negative and influential’ in refusing to address climate change. They were the Minerals Council of Australia, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, NSW Minerals Council, the Business Council of Australia and the Australian Petroleum Producers and Exploration Association. Continue reading »
-
LobbyLand: Unhealthy Business? Health sector lobbyists
In contrast to the United States, where businesses spend billions lobbying, we have weak civil society oversight of what businesses are up to and independent policy development. It’s time for our entrepreneurs to give back to society by funding civil society bodies. We need a Soros and a Gates or two. Continue reading »
-
LobbyLand. The used motor vehicle lobby.
We are paying to protect an industry that no longer exists. We see it almost every day in the media; rent-seekers like the motor industries extracting benefits for themselves through political influence and lobbying at the expense of the broader community. It has very little to do with markets. Continue reading »
-
Lobby Land. Influencers or influenced?
Who lobbies the lobbyists? Not the voting public, not the politicians who are part of the reception and creation of knowledge which is the raison d’être of lobbyists, consultants, public relations firms and government relations officers in the large corporations. Only a few journalists like Michael West, the Grattan Institute and journals like P & Continue reading »
-
Lobby Land. Government gives in to mortgage broking lobbyists. Putting profits before people.
“Unintended consequences”. It’s the clichè consumer groups such as CHOICE are used to hearing from industry groups every time a major review recommends a change that would put people before profits. Continue reading »
-
Lobbyland. Fixing corruption risks in lobbying
‘A lot of money can depend on the success or failure of a lobbyist’s representations to Government.’ That statement, in a report by the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) in 1990, was about lobbying by property developers, particularly in local government, but it is true of a great deal of lobbying at national, State Continue reading »
-
Lobbyland: How the lobbies hijacked school education
In all areas of public policy there are groups that engage in advocacy and lobbying to influence public opinion and to advance their special interests. These groups have been obvious and successful over half a century of increasingly privatised school education. Continue reading »
-
Lobbyland. The alcohol industry lobbies furiously in the pandemic.
Alcohol industry representatives have been furiously lobbying for concessions to the efforts by governments to restrict the movement of people – the primary tool in fighting the virus. Continue reading »
-
Lobbyland. The gambling lobby and how to buy friends and influence governments
There is no shortage of post-political appointments to engage the talents of former politicians to lobby for the gambling industry. Continue reading »
-
LobbyLand. Fossil Fuel Lobbyists: Modus Operandi, Impact, Solutions
In Australia, denial mounts. The recent “Gas-Led Recovery” and “Technological Roadmap” announcements of the Morrison government confirm the continued influence of the fossil fuel industry and its lobbyists. Continue reading »
