Corporate lobbying firms are doing very well under the new Government. Part of their success is due to their recruitment of staff from the Beehive. The lobbying firms are able to convert Parliamentary and Ministerial public servants into lobbyists, who bring with them inside information and connections that assist business clients with influencing Government decision-making.
Hamish Rutherford shifts from the Ninth Floor to corporate lobbying
The most significant lobbying recruit has been that of Hamish Rutherford, who was Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s Chief Press Secretary until the end of last year. Rutherford, who was also a former politics and business journalist for Stuff and the Herald, has now gone to work for lobbying firm BRG.
BRG is a firm that is run by other former journalists-turned-spindoctors-turned-lobbyists. Hence, the shift of Hamish Rutherford into lobbying is yet another example of the revolving door in motion, which would be illegal in other comparable countries.
BRG – formerly BRG Holdings – is a quintessential Wellington lobbying operation. The firm boasts on its website that it's “made up of former journalists and communications specialists, Ministerial staff, campaign advisers and political strategists with decades of experience” – in other words, a who's who of political insiders trading on their connections. Most significantly, BRG is run by lobbyists Georgina Stylianou and Chris Wikaira – both of whom used to work in the Press Gallery before shifting over to work for Ministers in Government. And Stylianou continues to regularly write political analysis for The Post.
Neither BRG’s website nor Rutherford’s own LinkedIn profile mentions his move to work for the lobbying firm. This is very typical of the opaqueness of the industry. Without any sort of Lobbying Register, as is common in other countries, there’s very little transparency.
However, the Ministerial Diaries published on the Beehive website do sometimes provide a peek into the arrangements, and the May 2025 entry records Rutherford meeting with the Minister of Customs, working for BRG, representing their client Freightways. However, the Wellington whispers had Rutherford starting work with BRG much earlier, soon after finishing work for the Prime Minister. Rutherford has been in the position of Luxon’s Chief Press Secretary since 2022.
Rutherford, with his extensive background as a political and business journalist, followed by a top-tier role in the Prime Minister's Office, is the archetypal candidate for a firm such as BRG. This composition is central to BRG's value proposition: they “understand that New Zealand's capital city and heart of government operates in weird and wonderful ways – and we get it”. Such understanding is cultivated through direct experience within the Beehive and the media that scrutinises it.
Given Stylianou's previous work for National Party ministers and Rutherford's fresh departure from a National Prime Minister's office, his presence would significantly bolster BRG's capacity to engage with and leverage connections within the current government. For BRG, securing someone with Rutherford's recent and intimate knowledge of the incumbent administration's thinking and personnel would be a considerable asset.
Ben Thomas and Neale Jones recruit an Act Party staffer
BRG isn’t the only lobbying firm headhunting Beehive staff. The firm Capital Government Relations owned by Neale Jones and Ben Thomas, and Iron Duke Partners owned by Phil O’Reilly, have also been recruiting Beehive staff.
Capital Government Relations has just hired long-time Act Party staffer Stuart Wilson as a lobbyist. Ben Thomas has released a statement saying “We’re delighted to be able to welcome Stuart to the team. Stuart has a broad and deep skillset in campaigns, policy, strategy and advocacy… His experience in, and understanding of, public affairs and the processes of government is a strong addition to Capital’s offering.” This comes after the firm also hired former NZ First MP Fletcher Tabuteau and former National Party spindoctor Aimie Hines.
The Post’s Andrea Vance has reported on their latest hire today: “Wilson was Act’s 2023 campaign manager — its most successful race to date — but has been with the party for nine elections.” She says that the lobbyist has most recently been “a specialist ministerial adviser focusing on the creation of the Ministry for Regulation and the anti red-tape Regulatory Standards Bill” – see: Beehive staffers exit for lobbying jobs (paywalled).
Vance points out how useful it is for Capital Government Relations to have another well-connected Beehive insider: “Despite being a party loyalist, political insiders said Wilson had built relationships across the spectrum and was respected for his intel on how the political machine works, both likely to be gold to clients.”
Simeon Brown’s senior press secretary shifts to lobbyists Iron Duke Partners
The lobbying firm Iron Duke Partners has also just recruited Health Minister Simeon Brown’s senior press secretary, Ben Craven. Before working in the Beehive, Craven was a lobbyist, first for BlacklandPR, then The New Zealand Initiative, and finally the Petroleum Exploration and Production Association of New Zealand (now known as “Energy Resources Aotearoa”).
Today, Vance reports that in this new post-Beehive lobbying role, Craven will “be advising businesses on ‘how Wellington works’.” Notably, it was just last week that Craven was the Beehive spindoctor tasked with selling the decision to award the University of Waikato the new medical school funding to the media.
Closing the revolving door
Readers of my work on lobbying will be familiar with my long-time advocacy of “standdown” rules for those going through the political-industry revolving door. New Zealand is an outlier in having no rules at all for politicians and senior public officials to control their ability to go from regulating an industry one day to lobbying for the same industry the next day. And New Zealand has experienced plenty of examples of this from Kris Faafoi through to Neale Jones.
Under pressure about public discontent on such flagrant abuse during the last Labour-led Government, then Prime Minister Chris Hipkins instructed the Ministry of Justice to undertake a significant research project to come up with options for regulating the revolving door and lobbying in general.
Andrea Vance sums up today what has happened to this important work: “Attempts to reform lobbying rules have long been kicked down the road. Labour commissioned advice, floated options, and held a public consultation in 2023, but the issue fizzled pre-election. Since then, it’s gone quiet under the coalition Government.”
We keep seeing the power of lobbying and influential entities on decision-making. For example, soon after leaving Parliament in 2023, former Cabinet Minister Stuart Nash moved straight into lobbying for Robert Walters, and then set up the immigration advisory company Nash Kelly Global. And today, the door keeps turning for Nash – the former Labour politician, and no doubt, future NZ First MP – has just been appointed to the board of the Taxpayers’ Union.
It's important to remember that the unregulated nature of lobbying and the persistently spinning revolving door in New Zealand are not victimless phenomena; they have tangible, detrimental impacts on the health of the country's democracy, public trust, and the integrity of its policy-making processes. When individuals like Hamish Rutherford, Ben Craven, and Stuart Wilson transition seamlessly from roles at the apex of government communication to firms whose business is to influence government decisions, it raises fundamental questions about fairness, access, and whose interests are ultimately being served.
It's now time to scrutinise all these machinations and work out where it’s appropriate to better regulate the power of lobbying and wealthy vested interests.
Dr Bryce Edwards
Director of The Integrity Institute
Read more:
Andrea Vance (The Post): Beehive staffers exit for lobbying jobs (paywalled)
From our “NZ Lobbying & Influence Register”:
The rampant conversion you describe of parliamentary workers to lobbyists sounds positively incestuous. It doesn't say much about the scruples of all those involved but then this coalition doesn't appear to have many scruples which allows this type of lobbying to flourish. Your work in drawing attention to this very real threat to our democracy is invaluable.
A ‘Chumocracy’ of communication. Dangerously undemocratic.