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 Government announced several measures aimed at providing greater transparency around lobbying at Parliament.

The Ministry of Justice is leading 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.

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.

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.

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

Read the feedback on the draft code below.

Find out more

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]

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].

Register your interest

If you would like to receive project updates and invitations to any presentations and meetings, you can register your interest here(external link).

Enquiries

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