Dear Hon John Banks,

I wish to test assertion often made in opposition to the Lobbying Disclosure Bill; specifically, that a register of lobbyists is superfluous to the information already freely available under the Official Information Act 1982.

In accordance with my objective, I would like to request all information held (including the Minister diary) in relation to:

All instances between 1–31 May 2013 where the Minister met or otherwise conversed with parties who engaged in lobbying activity.

For the purpose of this request, “lobbying activity” should be considered to mean:

Communication between the Minister and any party (the lobbyist) who is paid to represent the views of any person, company, firm or organisation (the client), where:

The principal purpose of the communication was to convey the client party’s view on the state or development of:

any legislative proposal, Bill, Act, regulation, amendment, policy, programme, or the awarding of grants, funding, contracts, or any other financial benefit which falls under the auspices of the Government of New Zealand to allocate.

For each instance of “lobbying activity”, I would like to know:

-The name and business address of the lobbyist
-The name and business address of the represented client
-The subject matter(s) discussed
-The name and business address of the client and any person or body that controls or directs the activities of the client and has a direct interest in the outcome of the activities undertaken on behalf of the client
-Where the client is a company, the name and business address of each subsidiary of the company that has a direct interest in the outcome of the activities undertaken on behalf of the client
-Where the client is a company that is a subsidiary of another company, the name and business address of that other company
-Where the client is a coalition, the name and address of each person or body that is a member of that coalition
-Particulars to identify the subject-matter in respect of which the lobbying activity was undertaken
-Particulars to identify the communication technique used to communicate with a public office holder (e.g.: telephone conversation, internet conference etc.)

I appreciate that this is a significant request, involving multiple parties, events and resources. I would be grateful for efforts made to provide the requested information. Please contact me if you have any queries.

Yours faithfully,

Liam Williams