Ex-Labour ministers pass through the “revolving door” into lobbying

Summarised by Centrist 

Kiri Allan, former Minister of Justice, just launched KLA Consultancy. She’s only the latest to recently take advantage of seemingly lax New Zealand stand down rules, which allows quick trips through the “revolving door” between government and the lucrative world of lobbying. 

Dr Bryce Edwards discusses the lax regulations in “More ex-Labour ministers move into Lobbying”, which sees many high ranking ex-politicians finding lucrative work with private sector consultancies. Sometimes they are even tasked with lobbying the very ministries they headed only prior to leaving government. 

Edwards says “It is conceivable…that a minister might, in preparation for departure from government, prepare a soft private sector landing and that this might affect his or her ministerial decisions”. 

He asks if the new government is willing to take a hard look at soft rules around political lobbying.

“After all, this isn’t just a conflict of interest for the outgoing Labour Government, but for all political parties. National ministers might feel that they want to have the same lobbying career opportunities as their predecessors,” he says. 

Read more over at Democracy Projec