Senior defence officials and military figures are taking paid jobs with firms lobbying for arms manufacturers, sometimes within weeks of leaving their government posts.
Guardian Australia has identified eight former military officers or defence bureaucrats, most of whom were high-ranking, who have publicly registered themselves as lobbyists for firms that represent military contractors.
But many other defence lobbyists operate largely in secret, either because they work directly for military contractors, or because they simply refuse to put themselves on the lobbyist register, avoiding scrutiny for themselves and their clients without any real repercussion.
One recent example of a lobbyist who placed himself on the lobbyist register is Tyson Sara, a former assistant secretary in defence’s naval shipbuilding taskforce, whose role was described as “leading the implementation of the Australian naval shipbuilding plan”.
Sara left defence in March and soon after joined lobbying powerhouse Cmax Advisory as its chief operating officer and vice-president for strategy and government.
Cmax represents the shipbuilder Navantia Australia, defence contractor Northrop Grumman, and the Israeli weapons manufacturer Rafael Advanced Defense Systems.
Shipbuilding is a hugely lucrative area for defence contractors. Last year, the government announced a long-term plan to spend about $90bn on new naval ships and submarines, including through the future frigate project, which will build nine new ships to replace the Anzac Class frigates.
There is no suggestion Sara or the other individuals on the register have acted unethically, improperly, or breached the lobbying code of conduct or other defence requirements. Defence put restrictions on Sara that prevented him from having anything to do with the future frigate project while at Cmax. Cmax said it had gone to great lengths to comply with that requirement.
“Cmax put in place stringent internal process to ensure full compliance with this departmental requirement. Mr Sara was excluded from all meetings, correspondence and documentation relating to Navantia’s bid for the future frigate program,” Cmax said in a statement.
In another recent case, the former head of the Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO) Warren King joined CMAX as a “special counsel” in October 2015, having left DMO earlier that year. King, as DMO’s chief executive, was in charge of acquiring arms and military equipment worth tens of billions of dollars.
King has not directly lobbied in his role with Cmax. His role involves providing “internal counsel to its executive team”, according to Cmax.
He was registered as a lobbyist for Cmax this year, but Cmax says that was only as a precaution “to provide transparency relating to any potential future roles”.
King is also independently the chairman of Navantia, the shipbuilder.
CMAX said in a statement that both Sara and King took steps to ensure any conflict of interest was avoided. Both had fully complied with all government rules and requirements, including the lobbying code of conduct, CMAX said.
“Both Mr King and Mr Sara advised the defence secretary (of the day) as to their future employment plans post their public service roles,” the firm said. “Both received guidance and advice on mitigation actions to ensure compliance with government policy, and to ensure no real or perceived conflict of interest existed.
“Both Mr King and Mr Sara complied with all guidance received and also comply fully with the regulations set out in the Australian government’s lobbyist code of conduct, specifically clause 7.2 of the Australian government lobbying code of conduct which is administered by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.”
Military officers who held a rank above colonel or its equivalent are banned from lobbying for 12 months on “any matter they had official dealings with” during the last year of their employment. Senior executive service officers in the public service face the same cooling-off period.
But the lobbying code of conduct, already weak by international standards, is rarely enforced and staff movements are poorly monitored.
The code also fails to consider former defence employees who are employed directly by weapons companies, either as in-house lobbyists or senior executives.
That means it does not apply to individuals such as Sean Costello, who worked as chief of staff to the then defence minister David Johnston between June 2014 and January 2015, as the government planned its $50bn future submarines program, according to evidence in Senate estimates. Costello left Johnston’s department and two months later became the chief executive of the Australian arm of French submarine manufacturer DCNS, a Senate committee heard.
That company, now known as Naval Group, eventually won the submarines contract in 2016.
In Senate estimates in 2015 Defence conceded that it was “a fair assumption” that Costello, in his role as chief of staff, would have had access to confidential documents and briefings on the submarine project.
Defence said in evidence to the Senate that it provided Johnston’s office with 34 pieces of written advice relating to the submarine project in the time Costello worked in the office, on top of material provided to the minister in a daily briefing pack.
What do lobbyists do?
Put simply, a lobbyist is someone who attempts to influence government policy or decisions on behalf of either a client or their own organisation. Ethical lobbying is a valuable and important element of any healthy democracy. It helps those who have a stake in government policy to convey their views and expertise. There are two broad types of lobbyists: third-party lobbyists, who are engaged as consultants, and in-house lobbyists, who work directly for corporations or interest groups.
Who hires lobbyists?
For many Australians, lobbying conjures images of powerful corporations working to sway politicians behind the scenes. There is a truth in that. The big banks, mining and energy giants, pharmaceutical companies, casinos, Amazon, Google and Facebook all engage lobbyists. But lobbyists also work on behalf of not-for-profits and community groups, including for veterans, social workers, aged-care staff, school principals and environmental organisations.
What is the lobbyist register?
The lobbyist register is the public's only window into the world of lobbying. It's a publicly available online list of lobbying firms, individual lobbyists and their clients. The register was a huge step forward when it was introduced in 2008, but remains frustratingly opaque. It doesn't tell us who is lobbying whom, about what, or when. Compare that to the ACT, where lobbyists are required to file quarterly reports on their activities, or NSW, where ministers are required to publish their diaries. The federal register is also completely blind to the activities of in-house lobbyists.
What is the lobbyist code of conduct?
The code tells lobbyists how they must behave when approaching the government and is designed to maintain ethical standards. But the code is not legislated and has no real teeth. It goes largely unenforced and the punishments are weak. The worst sanction available to authorities is removing a lobbyist from the register. The US and Canada have fines or jail terms for law breaches.
Who keeps an eye on lobbyists?
Federally, it's the prime minister's own department that loosely oversees lobbying. It takes on a largely administrative role, rather than an investigative or regulatory one. Its core job is to maintain the register and communicate the code's requirements to lobbyists. It lacks independence, relies on reports of bad lobbying and rarely, if ever, takes enforcement action.
“Defence is unable to comment on how many of these individual pieces of advice Mr Costello reviewed or was aware of,” Defence said in a response to the question on notice.
There is no suggestion that Costello breached any rule or code, or acted improperly. Like Sara and King, he took steps to avoid conflicts and ensure he complied with the requirements. Defence also approved Costello’s employment by DCNS. It received advice from the Australian government solicitor on Costello joining DCNS, although the advice has not been made public. Government lawyers also wrote to Costello to remind him of his obligations to keep sensitive information he had gained through his role as Johnston’s chief of staff confidential.
The shifting of defence personnel into lobbying roles is not inherently bad, as long as care is taken to manage conflicts and protect sensitive information. It often simply reflects individuals leaving defence and finding new employment within their area of expertise.
It is also not a new phenomenon. Paul Barrett, a secretary of the defence department in the late 1990s, said he had been on the receiving end of lobbying from “people who have been senior officers and were now working for defence companies”. He said their efforts were not particularly effective.
“The unflattering epithet that was applied to all of them within the defence organisation was ‘gun runners’,” Barrett told Guardian Australia. “I just felt that their efforts were not going to have any impact on anything that I had to do with.”
But Tim Costello, chief advocate for World Vision and the executive director of Micah Australia, said the sheer value of defence contracts meant it was necessary to apply added scrutiny to the sector.
“They are so lucrative,” Costello said. “It means that the transparency and accountability must be higher and commensurate with the goldfields they represent of taxpayer dollars.”
The Centre Alliance senator Rex Patrick said it was clear the lobbying code needed to be enhanced for former defence personnel. Patrick said senior defence personnel were often exposed to privileged and sensitive information on policy, strategy, and commercial and tender requirements.
“While I wouldn’t suggest that this information is shared amongst a lobbyist’s clients, when former officials service their clients, it’s simply not possible to unknow this information when formulating advice,” he said.
This reporting is supported by the Susan McKinnon Foundation through the Guardian Civic Journalism Trust
