Photo: RNZ
Transparency International has set up a secret group of lobbyists to provide advice on improving ethics in the lobbying industry - sparking claims it is being captured by the forces it seeks to contain.
Questions are also being raised about whether the open government and anti-corruption watchdog is compromised by its sources of funding and support.
Transparency International New Zealand (TINZ) receives funding from several government sources, including the clandestine state intelligence agencies the Security Intelligence Service (SIS) and the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB).
TINZ, a registered charity, also receives business support from a number of big consultancy firms including KPMG, Deloitte and PWC.
Transparency International plays a key role in shaping perceptions of New Zealand's international reputation, as its corruption index consistently ranks New Zealand as one of the least corrupt countries.
Business consultant Ernie Newman, who himself worked as a lobbyist in the grocery and telecommunications sectors, said he severed ties with TINZ over its lobbying strategy.
Newman first approached TINZ in May after Labour MP Kris Faafoi joined a lobbying firm within weeks of leaving Cabinet, underscoring his concern at the revolving door between the Beehive and the lobbying industry.
Unlike most of the developed world, lobbying is unregulated in New Zealand.
There are no obligations on lobbying firms to register or to disclose their clients and no stand down periods for government officials becoming lobbyists or lobbyists taking government jobs.
TINZ offered Newman a role as a 'member with delegated authority' - which allows experts to share their knowledge and represent TINZ at forums.
But he was then told that would mean joining a group of lobbyists who would be providing expert advice to TINZ - lobbyists that TINZ refuses to name.
"My initial reaction is astonishment that TINZ would rely on a team of 4-5 lobbyists to lead its response on such a crucial issue," Newman wrote in an email to TINZ on 30 May.
"Consulting them is fine but putting them in charge is altogether different - a bit like the police recruiting gang members to determine new rules on pursuit of fleeing drivers."
He declined to join the group and told TINZ that, "as an organisation you have been caught in a culture of complacency and captured by the very system you are charged with overseeing."
In an interview with RNZ, Newman said TINZ was not doing its job.
"I think they have been sucked into the very system - captured by the very system - they are there to protect the public from and I think they are doing New Zealand a great disservice by continuing to tell everyone that we are a relatively uncorrupt country. I don't believe we are anymore."
He said it was vital TINZ was strong and independent because lobbying and consultancy firms had taken over much of the work that career public servants used to do.
"We have actually handed over, to a large extent, the soul of the New Zealand government machine to the private sector without putting any apparent constraints around them, how they share information and how conflicted they may become."
A 'conversation' with lobbyists
TINZ CEO Julie Haggie said the charity was simply talking to lobbyists about how a code of conduct for the industry might work.
"Why wouldn't you have a conversation with lobbyists about what they think would work for them? They're the ones who know the lobbying sector best."
She would not say who the lobbyists were.
"I'm not going to tell you. It's not that I don't want to say it but I'm not going to put people up to be shut down by other people."
Julie Haggie Photo: LinkedIn
Haggie also rejected the idea that TINZ was compromised by its funding.
She said government agencies funding TINZ had an interest in combating corruption.
"GCSB and NZSIS have a strong interest in fighting corruption - that is one of their primary issues, the things that they do."
TINZ received $30,000 a year from the SIS and GCSB (reduced to $15,000 from SIS this year), $25,000 from police and $20,000 from Inland Revenue.
It receives $250,000 from a three-year contract with the Ministry of Justice to promote transparency and good governance and to fight corruption.
The Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment, the Department of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Public Service Commission also contribute to that fund.
Haggie said business support was largely in the form of corporates allowing TINZ to use meeting rooms, providing food and drinks and pro bono legal advice.
"Those companies, as well as working in the lobbying space, like Deloitte and KPMG, are also working in the anti-corruption space," she said.
"KPMG runs a report on fraud analysis and they have a lot of expertise in the area. A lot of them are working in compliance around anti-money laundering and a lot of them do company law and so they have a good deal of knowledge."
Haggie said TINZ had a small paid team and relied on a volunteer board and members with delegated authority.
TINZ had no physical office space, limited assets and held virtual board meetings.
"We maximise the funding and resources we get to have the best impact."
After an RNZ investigation into the lobbying industry, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins sought to bring the industry under greater control.
Read more from RNZ's investigation into lobbying:
Hipkins asked the Speaker to remove swipe card access to Parliament for lobbyists, offered government support for the lobbying industry to develop a voluntary code of conduct and rewrote the Cabinet Manual.
The Cabinet Manual now says that while in office "ministers' conduct and decisions should not be influenced by the prospect or expectation of future employment with a particular organisation or sector".
It also says after they have left office ministers should "not use any confidential, commercially sensitive, or legally privileged information to which they have had access as a minister in any way that affects their personal interests" while that information is not available to the public.