The term "lobbying" generally describes the practice of engaging in advocacy activities to influence government policies and decisions.
It is an important and legitimate feature of New Zealand’s democratic culture that people can contact Ministers, elected representatives and government officials, to discuss matters affecting them. However, issues can emerge when there is a real or apparent imbalance in access to decision makers, or concern about the level of transparency around who is lobbying who and what’s being discussed.
In April 2023, the Government announced several measures aimed at providing greater transparency around lobbying at Parliament.
The Ministry of Justice is leading two of these measures by:
Our aim is to strike the right balance between enabling legitimate advocacy that benefits society as a whole and protecting the public interest in having transparency around these activities.
The Ministry is currently assessing the scale of the project. This involves research, identifying the full range of interested parties, and holding meetings with a wide range of stakeholders to help identify the issues to be addressed.
The Ministry of Justice sought feedback on a draft voluntary lobbying code of conduct, which sets out good practice expectations for those who undertake lobbying activities in New Zealand.
This consultation was held from 15 March to 8 April 2024.
Read about the approach we are taking and the things that will need to be considered. [PDF, 1.2 MB]
Ministerial Briefing: Update on the Political Lobbying project - 1 August 2023 [PDF, 144 KB]
Meeting summaries of engagement sessions with stakeholders are posted here.
| Date | Summaries of meetings on a voluntary lobbying code of conduct |
| 11, 13, 18 July 2023 | Initial meetings with Government relations consultants [PDF, 320 KB] |
| 30 August 2023 | Follow up meeting with Government relations consultants [PDF, 139 KB] |
| 25 January 2024 | Feedback meeting with Government relations consultants [PDF, 238 KB] |
| Date | Summaries of meetings on wider lobbying issues to address for New Zealand |
| All meetings | All meetings: Two page overview [PDF, 159 KB] |
| 3 August 2023 | Academics and think tanks [PDF, 185 KB] |
| 10 August 2023 | Transparency interest groups [PDF, 169 KB] |
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11 August 2023 17 August 2023 |
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18 August 2023 31 August 2023 |
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7 September 2023 |
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8 September 2023 12 September 2023 |
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21 September 2023 |
Summaries of feedback on the draft voluntary lobbying code of conduct are posted here.
| Consultation period | Summaries of feedback on draft voluntary lobbying code |
| December 2023 – February 2024 | Government relations consultants [PDF, 115 KB] |
Between September 2023 and January 2024, the Ministry of Justice held an online survey to understand people’s views on an approach to a code of conduct for political lobbying.
The survey link was published in our newsletters about political lobbying and also emailed to more than 100 people who had taken part in meetings facilitated by the Ministry to discuss issues with lobbying in New Zealand.
The Ministry has published a summary of those responses [PDF, 309 KB].
If you would like to receive project updates and invitations to any presentations and meetings, you can register your interest here(external link).
For general enquiries about the project, please email electoral@justice.govt.nz.