Interest Groups Investigations

Summary

We will become a one-stop-shop for information about the political power of lobbyists, corporations, think tanks, and community organisations.

Purpose and activity

This workstream focuses on organised interests in New Zealand that have an influence on politics and society – mainly what are normally termed “interest groups”, “corporate lobbyists”, “lobby groups”, “pressure groups”, “campaign groups”, and “think tanks”.

We are setting up a framework to carry out investigations focusing on the influence of companies, lobbyists, and interest groups shaping political outcomes in New Zealand. The entities investigated are all on our online “Lobbying and Influence Register.” Currently we have about 220 entities on the register. These are listed alphabetically, but are also categorised into their different types (such as lobbying firms, community groups, and businesses).

The online register contains the basic registry information, which researchers have generated with the assistance of AI. These will be supplemented by much more in-depth investigations, dealing with the history of the political influence of the entity, pointing to conflicts of interests, lobbying, political donations, and other integrity issues and concerns.

The Lead Researcher on Public Sector Investigations is Bruce Curtis.