1[The House] Lobbyists: What do they do and why the bad rep? Lobbyists are often portrayed as political bogeymen (or women). But what do they actually do and how? The House chats with two of them. When the term lobbyist is used in political reporting it is usually negative. You might even get the idea that the parliamentary precinct is awash with them, greasing the wheels for their clients and whispering sweet nothings in the ears of ministers. I was keen to find out what they do, so I met with two; both former ministerial staffers and arguably from the 'modernising' end of approaches to lobbying. Holly Bennett is the founder of Awhi, which she describes as a kaupapa Māori lobbying firm. You might have noticed her in the media calling for lobbyists to have a code of conduct, a public register and an oversight body. Talani Meikle is a director at GRC Partners and Porter Novelli. Their website describes a wide array of services, but rather than the term lobbying opts for descriptors like government relations and public policy advice. Do you call yourself lobbyists? Talani Meikle "There are various names and titles for what we do. We would describe ourselves at GRC/PN as an integrated consultancy firm. So we do government relations, we do PR, we do media relations." Holly Bennett "I would say I'm a lobbyist first and foremost... When I think about the term lobbyist, I made a distinct decision to lean into the word lobbyist, because it's just a word. We shouldn't be afraid of it. It's actually about what you do and how you do it." Why does lobbying exist anyway? Holly Bennett "It just means that I translate all of the stuff that happens in Parliament, in and around politics and media for people who don't really live in the world that I do... The level of civics and understanding of people's own democracy in this country is wildly below where it should be." Talani Meikle "A lot of our clients, quite frankly, are just absolutely mystified about Wellington. When they try to navigate Wellington and its various layers, they just get very confused. So our role, similar to what Holly has described, is to translate the complexities of Wellington for our clients." What does that mean, practically? Holly Bennett "We spend a lot of time reading. We read what politicians say. We read what submissions are going in. They might have counterpoints on those we represent. We do a lot of time listening to different media, different post-Cabinet press conferences. It's all of these kind of things, because one of the most powerful tools in politics is words, right? ‘He mana tō te kupu’ – words have power. When you think about legislation, it's just written word on a piece of paper that directs what we can and can't do." Talani Meikle "We also spend a lot of time reading and analysing the words - what's coming out, what are the messages? What can we take from those messages, and how can they help our clients to understand the government's perspective on certain issues? ... "A lot of what we do sometimes can be as mundane as helping our clients to, you know, address a minister or an opposition MP in the correct and appropriate way, all the way through to very complex analysis of legislation or bills coming before the House and everything in between. So being in the ear of an MP or a minister doesn't really fit in our day-to-day work at all." What is not lobbying? Holly Bennett "If [lobbyists] tell you it's to meet and greet and do all that stuff, then I would say, ‘Okay, cool, but what value do you provide to your client?’ Because that's not value. Anyone can do that. And actually, I would argue that that's fundamentally one of the parts of a politician's role – is to meet their people." Talani Meikle "I would add to that, Holly, that in New Zealand, we have quite open access to our politicians in such a way that isn't the norm in other countries. So I would agree with you, we're not the meetings department. You know, I say that a lot at my job... "I think lobbying is probably not the cliched or conspiratorial version of what you might perhaps see in the media sometimes or in movies." On meeting ministers Talani Meikle "Of course, we help to facilitate meetings from time to time. That's part of the overall suite of things that we do. But it's not the be-all and end -all. There has to be value, not only on the advice that we provide, but what that enables our clients to then do; how they engage, who they engage with, why they engage at that level, with that person or department or politician." On helping with Select Committee submissions Holly Bennett "I mean, knowing what to say when you're in the room, it's just as important as getting in the room in the first place. So I would say that that's the inherent value." On accessing lobbying Holly Bennett "There's no right or wrong way necessarily, to do these things, and all practitioners will give you different ways to do it, but it's knowing that the advice is there in the first place, and that is one of the biggest challenges - you see people who do know how this world works, they're happy to reach out for the advice. And then we have a very slant towards a certain part of society that uses it, and then the vast majority do not." Why the negative reputation for lobbyists? Talani Meikle "I think that there has been some poor practice in the past, and that gets a lot of media attention, but it does somewhat of a disservice to the rest... Having a best practice standard in terms of our own conduct, our ethics, what we are prepared and not prepared to do, is really important, and it's an important benchmark for us as an industry that we shouldn't be shying away from. There's nothing to be frightened of in terms of best practice and lobbying, it's something that we should be embracing." Holly Bennett "Let me put it this way. You currently have three active lobbyists... who are on government-appointed advisory committees to point the direction of the way in which policy is being created. That is not inherently problematic. What is inherently problematic with that is that we don't know who their clients are. You tell me if that makes sense. Doesn't make sense to me. I don't feel comfortable knowing that there's people with a client book that we can't see who are actively being appointed by ministers of the Crown to be there to advise how policy is going to manifest." Holly Bennett "When people are skeptical about what you do and how you do it, the answer is not to say, ‘Oh, just trust us’. ... And that's the problem that you have in the industry right now... is that the public has very clear questions that they'd like to ask about our industry and what we do... No one's committing to saying, ‘This is what it looks like. This is who I represent.'" So, who do you represent? Holly Bennett "My client book is live, anyone can see it anytime... And if you are not going to be publicly named on our website, you are not the right client for us. If you cannot agree to it in our terms, because that's what every client has to sign to, then we're not the right firm. And that's okay for people to have different choices, but I would like them to have the choice, because ultimately, this is my firm, and I run it how I want to run it." Talani Meikle "We're pretty open about who we work for, too. And you can jump on our website and have a look. I think there are certainly some commercial sensitivities around some of our clients and you know, we have to take that into consideration. But if you have an inherent problem discussing who you're working for, then there's another conversation perhaps to be had... The other thing that I would say just on that point is that the alignment of values between your own organisation, your own firm, and your clients, is also something that's really important. It's important for us. Sometimes there is not an alignment with some of the clients, and you make a conscious and deliberate decision not to work with some clients based on that misalignment." Final comments Talani Meikle "Can I just say I really love my job. I love what I do. I love GRC/PN, I love our people, our kaupapa, our values, what drives us. We have an exceptional group of people. I love being in a senior leadership role with that team, and the clients that we work with are just exceptional people, and to be able to add value to their business objectives, their philanthropic objectives; it actually is what gets me out of bed in the morning, and I have to say it's a lot better than working in this place." [Both laugh] Holly Bennett "Absolutely, yeah, I totally agree with everything that you just said. I'm so proud of what I do. I've got no problem with anyone shining a spotlight on myself, just like you. I've got no problem with that, and I love what I do. I just hope that together, alongside Talani and a few others, that we can help create this as a space where new practitioners can come in and we can have actually a truly competitive industry. That's, I think, what we're probably missing right now." [Sunday 14 July 2024, 07:30]

2[The Detail] Why NZ is being dragged into the war in space The US is rallying its allies to bring it up in a battle straight out of science fiction - a war in space. A war in space would change life on earth as we know it, and it's not as far-fetched as you might think. America is gearing up for a space war and wants New Zealand to join an international operation aimed at deterring a satellite attack from Chinese or Russian forces. The US established its Space Force in 2019, and has a strong anti-China rhetoric focused on bringing allies together into its defensive and offensive space plans. RNZ reporter Phil Pennington says the agreement is similar to AUKUS Pillar Two, which is a strategic defence partnership centring around protecting the Indo-Pacific territory from Chinese military expansion. "The US is really trying to create a global network here, that's in contrast to the more isolated stance of Russia and China in space where they're relying on themselves," he says. Space Force's General Michael Guetlein told US lawmakers that his team is "on a journey to forge a purpose-built Space Force to deter and if needed, defeat any rival to maintain control of the space domain." Space Force has gone from nothing to being worth $50 billion in a mere five years, and Pennington says New Zealand brings a unique offer to the table. "We don't have weapon factories but what we do have is very clear southern skies and because of Rocket Lab we have a proven launch capability," he says. Figuring out what the plans are is proving to be tricky because there's a lot of contradiction and reading between the lines when it comes to obtaining official documents. "One hand they talk about peace and stability but on the other hand you have quotes like this; 'competitors have weaponised space in a way that holds US and allied capabilities at risk and in doing so they have created the most competitive and dangerous space environment in history'," he says. Pennington says New Zealand officials are keeping particularly quiet about what's happening behind closed doors. The US on the other hand has been a bit more open. "They [the US] actually note that it's hard to know what would happen in a space war. That's because there's a lot of uncertainty around what they call operating concepts, the pace of technological change and they also note the secrecy surrounding space capabilities ... but they do talk about using lasers to dazzle the other satellites," he says. Pennington says Rocket Lab is planning to send a satellite up next year to have a test fight against another satellite. "They [the US] have also talked about Chinese satellites that have arms on them that can wrangle a satellite," he says. But a space war wouldn't just be satellites fighting each other. Pennington says there are also indications that countries plan to track and destroy opposition missiles using space weapons. These plans sound like a real-life version of Star Wars, but despite its similarity to a sci-fi movie, Chris Jackson, Mission Operations Centre Lead at Auckland University's Te Pūnaha Ātea Space Institute, thinks we should be taking this matter seriously. While we may not realise it, Jackson says satellites are involved with everything we do, more than just Sky TV and GPS getting us to the pub on time. GPS, the Global Navigation Satellite System, for example is used in just about every part of everyday life. "It's really become part of critical infrastructure, it synchronises the power grids, our mobile phones and all of our banking transactions and if those services went away, we would have a lot of problems" he says. Jackson says it's hard to predict exactly what would happen, but he imagines the initial impact would be severe. "We wouldn't be able to get weather information, and there are a lot of applications that use space and if they suddenly disappeared, I think society would take a serious step backward," he says. Beyond that, Jackson says there is also a long-term environmental consequence of countries shooting down each other's satellites. "If we cause a load of space debris, it potentially means we can't put satellites back into certain areas again. So, it may not just be a case of replacing what was previously up there," he says. "I hope it never happens but certainly in the last few years we've seen Russia and China have both detonated anti-satellite weapons in space and there are moves to try and have international treaties to stop that sort of thing." [Friday 12 July 2024, 05:00]

3[Sporting Witness] The murder of Andres Escobar In 1994, the footballer was shot dead following Colombia's exit from the World Cup. It's 30 years since the murder of Colombian footballer, Andres Escobar. Just days before his fatal shooting, Escobar had scored an own goal for Colombia at the 1994 World Cup. He had been blamed for his country's early exit from the tournament and many linked his death directly to his mistake on the pitch. Matt Pintus has been through the BBC World Service archive, listening to interviews with the Colombian journalist Luis Fernando Restrepo, a friend of Escobar's who saw him on the night he was killed. Released on: Saturday 06 July 2024