Editorial
A poodle is a dog

Christopher Pyne was still a cabinet minister when he met with EY to discuss taking a job with the consultancy. There was no confusion about the purpose of the meeting. A partner at EY later told the Senate they “discussed Mr Pyne’s post-retirement plans, and his interest in utilising his experience as a politician and minister to assist a professional services firm grow their private sector defence industry business”.

Nine days later, Pyne was offered a job with EY. Three days after that, he accepted. As the partner helpfully explained, EY “formed a view that Mr Pyne’s 26 years’ experience as a politician would be beneficial to EY’s strategy in growing our defence industry practice, via engaging him as a consultant”.

Pyne was breaking no rules. There is a weak prohibition on lobbying, but he would be hired as a consultant. There is a difference, in the way a poodle is a dog, but not all dogs are poodles. His crimped ethics were intact.

Later, Pyne would set up his own lobby shop. He calls it Pyne & Partners. His work for foreign interests means the former defence minister has to make disclosures to the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme. He has done work for the French, the South Koreans, the United Arab Emirates and Taiwan.

“A lobbying code of conduct which allows our defence minister to discuss defence business with a global contracting firm in cabinet then take a job with that firm nine days after leaving politics is a lobbying code which is corrosive of public trust,” Monique Ryan told the parliament this week, again trying to reform the country’s integrity laws.

“A code which allows our foreign minister to award more than $500 million in contracts to a contractor and then to accept a job with that contractor less than 12 months after leaving politics is corrosive of public trust.

“A code which permits a health minister to award over $135 million in pandemic contracts to a company and then to take a position with that company six months later is corrosive of trust.

“A code which allows the prime minister discretion over its enforcement, a prime minister who, by the way, is the patron of a registered lobbying agency, is corrosive of public trust.”

Ryan’s bill is part of a suite of transparency reforms before the parliament. None are from the major parties. Hers would stop ministers and senior staff from working as lobbyists for three years after they leave politics. It would reveal who lobbyists meet and force ministers to publish their diaries. The reforms are simple and effective and will not pass.

It is revealing that so many politicians become lobbyists or consultants. Most are short of other skills. They leave with a bucket of turkey grease and a knowledge of which hallways to slide down. Pyne was 25 when he was elected. All he knew was there was more money in bombs.

One has to admire people like Graham Perrett, who left politics to go back to teaching. His is a lonely decency. The difference is not just what he did after parliament but what he did before it. The unintended consequence of Ryan’s bill might be to encourage fewer spivs into the building, fewer people there for the buck they might make later, or for a drowsy backbench salary that’s more than they could hope for in the private sector. It might make room for more nurses or farmers or school librarians, people taking a break from their careers to make a contribution. It’s another reason the major parties will never vote for it.

This article was first published in the print edition of The Saturday Paper on November 1, 2025 as "A poodle is a dog".

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