Political dinner a podcaster push for people’s lobbyist
While big business and corporate interests spend tens of thousands of dollars to meet ministers, a fed-up punter is hosting his own lobby dinner for politicians.
Punters Politics podcast host Konrad Benjamin is hoping to raise $75,000 at an event with independent politicians in Canberra on Tuesday to hire “Australia’s first punters lobbyist”.
It is protesting against businesses and special interest groups spending heavily on meal tickets to meet the Prime Minister and senior ministers.
Both major parties have fundraisers that major companies pay to be a part of, but four in five agree this gives them unfair political influence, according to YouGov polling commissioned by the Australia Institute.
Almost four-fifths of 1,500 survey respondents agreed that MPs should refuse to attend these events, especially if someone paying for access has a vested interest in government policy.
Nearly a third of people thought paying cash for access was corrupt, while a quarter said they were unsure.
Mr Benjamin told Parliament House in Canberra: “Some here call it business as usual, they call it politics, but most Australian punters know what it is and we call it corruption. We don’t like it.”
Independent MP Helen Haines, who has been pushing for lobbying reform and greater transparency about who has access to MPs in Parliament, said Australians deserved the same access to politicians as big donors.
Independent senator David Pocock said government decisions should be made in the public interest, not corporate interests.
“This is something that we need to continue to pressure the major parties to make sure that there are more voices, that your voice is heard in our democracy, no matter how much money you have in the bank,” he said.
“This is the people’s home and we must make decisions that are good for Australia, not just for the people who can pay to sit down with the minister or the prime minister.”
Senator Pocock has launched its own voluntary registration where MPs can declare who they are sponsoring for a lobby pass allowing unrestricted access to private areas of Parliament House.
Only the crossbenchers and the One Nation senator voluntarily revealed who they were sponsoring.
