Political lobbying

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Supporting transparency in political lobbying

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 then Prime Minister announced several measures aimed at providing greater transparency around lobbying(external link) at Parliament. The Ministry of Justice was tasked to lead two of these measures by:

  • supporting “third-party” lobbyists who lobby on behalf of others to come together to develop a voluntary code of conduct to improve transparency and accountability that will serve as a set of guidelines.
  • undertaking a review of the different policy options for regulating lobbying activities.

Project Briefings

Political Lobbying Project Overview - July 2023 [PDF, 1.2 MB]

Ministerial Briefing: Update on the Political Lobbying project - 1 August 2023 [PDF, 144 KB]

Ministerial Briefing: Work to date on the Political Lobbying Project – 13 June 2024 [PDF, 1.6 MB]

Voluntary code of conduct for political lobbyists

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.

Lobbying Code of Conduct Discussion Draft (March 2024) [PDF, 161 KB]

This consultation was held from 15 March to 8 April 2024.

Read the feedback on the draft code below.

Project updates

Feedback on the draft code of conduct

Feedback on the draft voluntary lobbying code of conduct is posted here.

Consultation period Feedback on the draft voluntary lobbying code
December 2023 – February 2024 Government relations consultants feedback summary [PDF, 115 KB]
March – April 2024

Wider stakeholders feedback summary [PDF, 199 KB]

Wider stakeholders individual submissions [PDF, 4 MB]

Meeting summaries

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]

11 August 2023 

17 August 2023 

Industry and professional associations (1) [PDF, 189 KB]

Industry and professional associations (2) [PDF, 187 KB]

18 August 2023 

31 August 2023 

Wider interest groups (1) [PDF, 167 KB]

Wider interest groups (2) [PDF, 175 KB]

7 September 2023 

Individual Companies [PDF, 174 KB]

8 September 2023 

12 September 2023 

Government relations consultants (1) [PDF, 165 KB]

Government relations consultants (2) [PDF, 160 KB]

21 September 2023 

Iwi/Māori [PDF, 583 KB]

Code of conduct survey summary

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].

Review of lobbying activities

The Ministry is currently assessing the scale and scope of any review of options for regulating lobbying activities.

Enquiries

For general enquiries about the project, please email  DemocracyandOpenGovernment@justice.govt.nz