1
00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,720
Speaker 1: So a group calling themselves level the playing field, rallying

2
00:00:03,760 --> 00:00:07,600
Speaker 1: against New Zealand's lobbying regulations and they're calling for more transparency.

3
00:00:07,960 --> 00:00:11,160
Speaker 1: Former Prime Minister Helen Clark and former Attorney General Chris

4
00:00:11,200 --> 00:00:13,800
Speaker 1: Finlson where some of the speakers at the campaign launch

5
00:00:13,840 --> 00:00:18,239
Speaker 1: last night. They're calling for stronger lobbying regulations, a cooling

6
00:00:18,280 --> 00:00:22,599
Speaker 1: off period to prevent former ministers from immediately becoming lobbyists,

7
00:00:22,800 --> 00:00:26,120
Speaker 1: and a tightening of political donation rules. So Health Coalition

8
00:00:26,239 --> 00:00:30,120
Speaker 1: ar TROS co chairperson Boyd Swinburne joins me, Now, goodby

9
00:00:30,160 --> 00:00:30,640
Speaker 1: to your board.

10
00:00:31,840 --> 00:00:32,959
Speaker 2: Andrew, So you.

11
00:00:32,960 --> 00:00:34,920
Speaker 1: Held the launch party last night. What were the headlines

12
00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:35,519
Speaker 1: that came out of it.

13
00:00:36,600 --> 00:00:39,600
Speaker 2: Well, those sort of things that you said, we recognize

14
00:00:39,600 --> 00:00:43,279
Speaker 2: as the problem that we have with access and influence

15
00:00:43,320 --> 00:00:46,760
Speaker 2: on public policy is at the moment too dominated or

16
00:00:46,800 --> 00:00:51,040
Speaker 2: has been for some years by vested interest, by commercial interests,

17
00:00:51,479 --> 00:00:55,520
Speaker 2: and those groups that are pushing for the common goods

18
00:00:55,520 --> 00:01:00,480
Speaker 2: for social outcomes, health outcomes, environmental outcomes don't get to

19
00:01:00,600 --> 00:01:03,280
Speaker 2: say so this is the sort of the playing field

20
00:01:03,280 --> 00:01:06,880
Speaker 2: that needs to be leveled. Nothing wrong with lobbying so

21
00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:10,880
Speaker 2: long as it's in balance and we get a public

22
00:01:10,920 --> 00:01:15,120
Speaker 2: policy for public good, not for private good. So there's

23
00:01:15,120 --> 00:01:18,440
Speaker 2: a fair consensus building around the need for lobbying laws.

24
00:01:18,440 --> 00:01:21,720
Speaker 2: You know, New Zealand has no lobbying regulations, makes us

25
00:01:22,040 --> 00:01:28,120
Speaker 2: an outlier in OECD countries and so we need lobbying regulations.

26
00:01:28,440 --> 00:01:30,600
Speaker 2: We need a whole bunch of things to try to

27
00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:32,360
Speaker 2: strengthen our democracy.

28
00:01:32,760 --> 00:01:34,760
Speaker 1: The fact that you had a former labor politician Heving

29
00:01:34,800 --> 00:01:38,360
Speaker 1: Clerk and a former National politician Chris Finnison there speaking

30
00:01:38,440 --> 00:01:41,920
Speaker 1: on the issue, does this mean this issue has bipartisan support.

31
00:01:42,959 --> 00:01:45,880
Speaker 2: Well, it has to have bipartisan supporter, Scott, and it's

32
00:01:45,880 --> 00:01:49,440
Speaker 2: an issue which cuts across the political spectrum. We also

33
00:01:49,480 --> 00:01:53,000
Speaker 2: had Antolli there who's a formal National minister as well.

34
00:01:53,680 --> 00:01:56,600
Speaker 2: We're not going to get progress on this unless both

35
00:01:56,720 --> 00:02:00,760
Speaker 2: main parties at least are on board and see this

36
00:02:01,240 --> 00:02:06,080
Speaker 2: slide that we have and trust in government. The Transparency

37
00:02:06,120 --> 00:02:10,920
Speaker 2: International figures show that New New Zealand's corruption index we

38
00:02:11,040 --> 00:02:13,200
Speaker 2: used to be top of the world and now we're

39
00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:16,960
Speaker 2: sliding down each year. We need to rebuild that and

40
00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:18,280
Speaker 2: get trust back in government.

41
00:02:18,600 --> 00:02:22,760
Speaker 1: And you and your coalition Health Coalition or you actually

42
00:02:22,760 --> 00:02:24,519
Speaker 1: got into the views you called on New Zealand first

43
00:02:24,520 --> 00:02:26,519
Speaker 1: to come clean due to the Associate Minister of Health

44
00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:29,840
Speaker 1: Casey Costello's links to tobacco giants. So this is your motivation.

45
00:02:29,880 --> 00:02:31,560
Speaker 1: Would this sort of regulation stop that?

46
00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:35,440
Speaker 2: Well, it's not going to be one our magic bullet.

47
00:02:35,440 --> 00:02:37,640
Speaker 2: There's a whole bunch of things we need to do

48
00:02:37,800 --> 00:02:41,200
Speaker 2: to retrieve our our democracy and make it a fair

49
00:02:41,720 --> 00:02:44,639
Speaker 2: playing field. But yes, in health where we have tobacco,

50
00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:49,720
Speaker 2: alcohol and unhealthy food. These things cause a third of

51
00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:53,120
Speaker 2: the health damage in this country and yet we have

52
00:02:53,240 --> 00:02:58,160
Speaker 2: not been able to get policies through successive governments because

53
00:02:58,560 --> 00:03:02,760
Speaker 2: of the pressure of lobbying, and so we really need

54
00:03:02,760 --> 00:03:03,919
Speaker 2: that to improve our health.

55
00:03:04,280 --> 00:03:06,360
Speaker 1: So can I just ask, very briefly, what's the coalition

56
00:03:06,480 --> 00:03:07,800
Speaker 1: government saying? Are they on board?

57
00:03:09,160 --> 00:03:11,200
Speaker 2: Well, now that we've had the launch, we're going to

58
00:03:11,200 --> 00:03:14,640
Speaker 2: be taking this around to the governments and to the

59
00:03:14,639 --> 00:03:17,960
Speaker 2: opposition parties as well, because as you said, this needs

60
00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:23,880
Speaker 2: to be across parties. The Attorney General, Paul Goldsmith has

61
00:03:23,919 --> 00:03:27,840
Speaker 2: had some lobbying regulations and reports on it on his

62
00:03:27,919 --> 00:03:30,440
Speaker 2: desk for some time, so we want to be able

63
00:03:30,480 --> 00:03:32,880
Speaker 2: to put this stronger case to him. He's had this

64
00:03:33,880 --> 00:03:38,640
Speaker 2: report about a voluntary code for lobbyists. But that's not

65
00:03:38,800 --> 00:03:42,000
Speaker 2: nearly strong enough. I need a whole raft of things.

66
00:03:42,120 --> 00:03:45,000
Speaker 1: Boyd swinburn I thank you that as Professor Boyd Swinburne,

67
00:03:45,040 --> 00:03:49,200
Speaker 1: who is the tail Royal Health Coalition Co Chairperson.

68
00:03:50,280 --> 00:03:53,240
Speaker 2: For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge. Listen live

69
00:03:53,400 --> 00:03:56,400
Speaker 2: to News Talks it be from five am weekdays, or

70
00:03:56,440 --> 00:03:58,360
Speaker 2: follow the podcast on iHeartRadio