Earlier this week, the Greens introduced a Member's Bill requiring public registration of political lobbyists. At the time, I predicted that the other parties would ignore the issue. I am glad to be proved wrong. Labour has come out in support of the bill:
"We agree that transparency around lobbying is appropriate. Ministers are responsible for decisions that can affect people's economic and personal interests to a very great extent. It should be possible to know who has lobbied them, when the lobbying has occurred, and on whose behalf it has been done".So, the ball is now in National's court: do they support transparency, or corruption?"We will be asking for a copy of the bill so we can review its details and determine whether our 'in principle' support will be able to extend to supporting its detailed provisions", Charles Chauvel said.
