Controversies Of Lobbying

Clive Thomas (2005, p. 283) wrote a chapter on ‘Lobbying in the United States’ in The Handbook of Public Affairs, defines ‘lobbying’ as an interest group using a lobbyist to interact with the policy makers, which can be direct or indirect, which can influence the current policy or it could build a stronger bond between them this can lead to future policy benefiting the interest group. Many believe lobbying activities and tactics are not always visible, lobbying receives much criticism. This essay will discuss why lobbying is a legitimate practice within a representative democracy. Firstly, the essay will talk about the history and how lobbying has evolved in Australia and the United States.

Less than a century ago lobbyists in Canberra,

Zetter Lionel (2004, p. 99) wrote a chapter on ‘Lobbying Westminster and Whitehall’ in Public Relations in Practice mentions, “lobbyists provide politicians with facts, arguments, and off-the-shelf- pre-prepared Bills”. He believes “lobbying is a legitimate and important part of the democratic” (Lionel, 2004, p.99). It helps policy makers understand what the public or interest groups want or how they feel about the issue or policy. Not only does this benefit the public or interest groups, it also benefits the policy makers, it provides them with information that they probably cannot obtain themselves. By providing policy makers with research and analysis, it can help persuade them about a policy or issue, knowing whether the public or interest group is for or against it. For example, Gideon Skinner and Lauren Cummings (2012) states that 63 percent of Britain’s citizens disagreed that, the government’s policies would improve the state of Britain’s public services in the long term, however only 31% agreed. More than half of Britain’s citizens believe that the government’s policies would not improve the state of public services in the future. Therefore, they can try making or fixing a policy or issue, to not only benefit them but also themselves, by understanding what the public or interest groups want and working together to create or

Since the evolution of lobbying, it provides the public or interest groups with transparency, integrity, and honesty, because of the Lobbying Code of Conduct being put into action. Lobbying activities, such as grassroots lobbying, involves public engagement, even though there is no communication between the lobbyist and policy maker, there can still be a change made in the policy or issue, by using social media platforms, to discuss an issue or policy. Lobbying also benefits policy makers, by providing data and information that they probably cannot obtain themselves. Policy makers and the public or interest groups can work together to improve policies or issues, which can benefit them in the long