Week 8- Pressure Groups and Lobbying

Question 1

Define lobbying

Answer 1

The activity of trying to influence public policy

Question 2

Who are the actors engaged in lobbying?

Answer 2

Pressure groups and commercial lobbyists

Question 3

What is a pressure group?

Answer 3

Collective organisations with voluntary members or supporters (individuals or organisations) for whom efforts to influence and shape public policy constitutes a core reason for their existence

Question 4

How do pressure groups differ from parties?

Answer 4

• Unlike parties, groups do not seek to win elections or form governments
• Instead groups engage in strategies to influence parliaments, government ministers, public servants, party platforms and public opinion such that public policies change in the desired direction (or remain unchanged as desired)

Question 5

What are pressure groups also known as?

Answer 5

Interest groups

Question 6

Define institutions

Answer 6

Organisations for which advocacy is a marginal concern and something in which they only intermittently engage

Question 7

Why are some organisations not considered pressure groups?

Answer 7

Some organisations are collective (have affiliates) but are not policy oriented, as politics does not form a core part of their reason for being, and are therefore not considered pressure groups

Question 8

What 2 core components are required to be considered a pressure group?

Answer 8

• Policy advocacy as part of an organisation’s reason for being
• It is a collective organisation

Question 9

What is the primary source of political power?

Answer 9

The parliamentary system

Question 10

What does the asserted prominence of parties in the Australian political system rest on?

Answer 10

• Being real competition between party agendas such that changes in govt usher in major changes in public policy

Question 11

What system is it argued that Australian politics is drifting towards? Describe this

Answer 11

• A ‘cartel system’
• Within which parties compete electorally over the same broad on the basis of their relative managerial competence
• Suggests party organisations are increasingly less likely to be a focus for citizen participation and agenda setting

Question 12

What does most policy work involve?

Answer 12

• Relatively low level engagement between group officials and bureaucrats
• Parties broadly align, both direct and indirect ways, with societal or economic interests
• More Australian groups are likely to increasingly pursue bipartisan agendas

Question 13

Outline insider strategies

Answer 13

• About achieving the possible- providing reasoned, well researched argument in a constructive manner without attempting to win an argument by embarrassing government
• Groups accept they will not ‘win’ on every issue
• Strategies can be high or low profile in nature depending on media coverage

Question 14

Outline outsider strategies

Answer 14

• Notable for their pursuit of attention grabbing stunts that are designed to (re)set the policy agenda, and to embarrass and cajole the government into action
• May move to insider approach over time
• Some are outsiders by necessity (skills and resources)

Question 15

Define ideological outsiders

Answer 15

Aims are too radical to be accommodated by governments

Question 16

Define zero sum game

Answer 16

Groups as agents of political influence characterises groups and state as zero sum game

Question 17

List questions to assess the capacities of groups themselves

Answer 17

• Can they speak authoritatively for their members?
• Do they have good representative coverage of their constituency?
• Do they have valuable in-house expertise?
• Can they provide resources that the state does not possess, yet needs?

Question 18

Outline the other roles groups have

Answer 18

• Deliver services
• Regulate professions
• Bargain on wages and conditions for members
• Formulate self-regulatory regimes or codes of practice

Question 19

Outline the role of professional groups

Answer 19

Professional groups have been granted important functions regarding accreditation and regulation of professions on behalf of the state

Question 20

What do pressure groups do more than ever?

Answer 20

Engage in private governance regimes as a way to address issues of concern

Question 21

List questions to assess how representative groups are

Answer 21

• For whom does a group work?
• In whose interests is it advocating?
• Who can it be said to represent?

Question 22

Why are pressure groups important in Australian politics and what is an issue with this?

Answer 22

• They may represent the interests of those that are marginal, practically unpalatable and would be unlikely to gain traction in election campaigns, party manifestos etc
• However, many groups advocating for marginalised groups do not involve members of the group in their advocacy

Question 23

What causes some groups to criticise the legitimacy of other groups?

Answer 23

• The issue of representativeness
• Some suggest groups lack internal democratic processes
• They have members remote from decision making
• Members are really supporters

Question 24

Outline one approach to the representativeness issue

Answer 24

• A conflict between authenticity and political inclusion
• If we want the voices of the marginalised to be heard, we may have to accept that their interests have to be articulated by those who are showing solidarity with such constituencies, not the constituency members themselves

Question 25

Outline evidence for this approach to the issue of representativeness

Answer 25

Debate as to whether groups should be able to combine a mission to service a ‘client group’ with political advocacy

• Many organisations are partly funded by the state
• Recently, service contracts offered by the govt have sought to preclude policy advocacy explicitly, or have only funded specific projects, not core organisation funding
• Opposition pursued by raising tax related issues. Organisations are charities, with a tax reduced status

Question 26

Broadly define lobbying

Answer 26

• Term to indicate influence seeking activity by political organisations and individuals
• Also refers to individuals who make their professional living as a paid or commercial lobbyist

Question 27

What background may lobbyists have?

Answer 27

• As a politician
• As a senior public servant
• May have professional expertise in areas such as public and commercial law, public relations or public opinion research

Question 28

Who do lobbyists target?

Answer 28

• Public servants
• Seek to engage directly with politicians

Question 29

List (4) skills lobbyists have

Answer 29

• Providing inside knowledge or what the key decision makers are within government
• What the likely agenda is
• The timing of policy formulation and decision making
• Those with skills in policy will provide research to support campaigns on current policy issues

Question 30

Define commercial lobbyist

Answer 30

• Paid professionals engaged by clients on a fee-for-service basis
• The services of professional lobbying firms are engaged by pressure groups, individual corporations or other institutions, who see the need for an inside track to decision making

Question 31

Summarise the Combe-Ivanov affair

Answer 31

• Combe was a long standing lobbyist and member of the labour party
• Formed a close friendship with a Russian senior diplomat
• Was considered a security risk and lost his job

Question 32

Outline the Lobbying Registration Scheme established in 1983

Answer 32

• Only included commercial lobbyists engaged by a client
• Did not cover ‘dealings’ with back benchers
• Register created under scheme was not made public

Question 33

Outline WA’s Contact with Lobbyists Code

Answer 33

• Burke scandal reopened debate about Australian lobbying regulations
• Coverage was narrow
• Did not include ‘in-house’ staff of companies and large pressure groups

Question 34

Outline the federal government’s 2008 Lobbying Code of Conduct

Answer 34

• Aims to include all definitions of lobbyists
• Requires those defined as lobbyists and engaging with govts to register with the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. Register made public on website
• Must list business name, members of their firm that lobby, and the names of their clients
• Govts will not engage lobbyist without registration
• Deals with targets of lobbying: politicians and public servants
• Does not include all senators, but does include all public servants, irrespective of rank

Question 35

What is the ‘revolving door’ and how does the Lobbying Code of Conduct address this?

Answer 35

• Refers to the way ministers and senior public officials move swiftly between lobbying and public office
• Code sets 18 month period between public office and registration as a lobbyist for all ministers and parliamentary secretaries, and 12 months for ministerial staff

Question 36

Describe the strength of Australia’s response to lobbying concerns

Answer 36

Australia has a growing number of lobbying registers, but response to concerns over lobbying in Australian politics is comparatively weak