Explanatory note
This explanatory note relates to this Bill as introduced into Parliament.

Overview of Bill

The object of this Bill is to prohibit the giving or receipt of success fees for lobbying
by lobbyists who lobby Ministers, Parliamentary Secretaries and other Government
officials.

Outline of provisions

Part 1 Preliminary
Clause 1 sets out the name (also called the short title) of the proposed Act.

Clause 2 provides for the commencement of the proposed Act on a day or days to be
appointed by proclamation.

Clause 3 defines certain words and expressions used in the proposed Act. A
Government official is defined as a Minister, a Parliamentary Secretary, a staff
member of a Minister or Parliamentary Secretary, a chief executive officer or senior
executive officer within the meaning of the Public Sector Employment and
Management Act 2002 or a person employed under Chapter 1A of that Act, a member
of a statutory body and a contractor providing services to or on behalf of a Division

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Explanatory note page 2

Lobbying of Government Officials Bill 2011
Explanatory note
of the Government Service. Lobbying a Government official means communicating
with the official for the purpose of representing the interests of another person or
body in relation to certain specified Government activities or decisions. A lobbyist is
defined as a person or body that carries on the business of lobbying Government
officials on behalf of third parties and that generally does so for money or other
valuable consideration.

Part 2 Ban on success fees for lobbying
Clause 4 defines a success fee for the lobbying of a Government official as an
amount of money or other valuable consideration the giving or receipt of which is
contingent on the outcome of the lobbying of a Government official by or on behalf
of a lobbyist or on the outcome of a matter about which such lobbying is carried out.

Clause 5 makes it an offence to give, or agree to give, a success fee for the lobbying
of a Government official to a lobbyist or any other person at the direction or with the
agreement of the lobbyist. It will also be an offence for a lobbyist or any other person
to receive, or agree to receive, such a success fee and for a lobbyist to agree that
another person is to receive such a success fee.

Clause 6 provides for a success fee to be forfeited to the Crown if a person is found
guilty of an offence under the proposed Part, unless the court otherwise orders. A
court may, in proceedings or on appeal, order that a success fee not be forfeited or
that a forfeited success fee be returned.

Clause 7 excludes fees paid primarily for the provision of professional advice or
services from the effect of the proposed Part.

Part 3 Miscellaneous
Clause 8 enables the Governor to make regulations for the purposes of the proposed
Act.

Clause 9 provides for proceedings for offences under the proposed Act to be dealt
with summarily before the Local Court.

Clause 10 makes directors of a corporation or persons concerned in the management
of a corporation liable for offences by the corporation under the proposed Act if they
knowingly authorise or permit the relevant contraventions.

Clause 11 provides for the review of the proposed Act after 5 years.

Schedule 1 Savings, transitional and other
provisions
Schedule 1 contains savings, transitional and other provisions consequent on the
enactment of the proposed Act.

Note: If this Bill is not modified, these Explanatory Notes would reflect the Bill as passed in the House. If the Bill has been amended by Committee, these Explanatory Notes may not necessarily reflect the Bill as passed.

 

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