Simon Banks | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/simon-banks/ Simon Banks is a government relations, campaigning and strategic communications professional and a director of Hawker Britton. Following the 2010 Federal election, Simon was involved in the parliamentary reform agreements which were central to the return of the Gillard Government. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ Lifting the lid on lobbyists http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/lifting-the-lid-on-lobbyists/ It is time Parliaments joined Governments to ensure all professional lobbyists are registered. All lobbyists should be required to adhere to a code of conduct. And interest groups and think tanks should be required to disclose who their members and donors are. Recent developments in the debate about plain packaging of tobacco and carbon pricing have in turn kicked off a debate about the role of lobbyists, interest groups and think tanks. In particular, who influences the influencers? Political parties have for many years been required to disclose significant donors. The current debate is about the threshold at which donations should be disclosed. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Simon Banks) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/lifting-the-lid-on-lobbyists/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/lifting-the-lid-on-lobbyists/#item6033 Wed, 08 Jun 2011 19:40:01 +0000 Simon Banks | Author bios | The Punch