Labor has called for an investigation into a lobbying firm run by National Party president Larry Anthony regarding a "clear conflict of interest" while the Greens have urged for a major overhaul of the rules governing lobbying.
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Fairfax Media revealed on Saturday that Mr Anthony's firm, SAS Consulting Group, was representing energy companies such as Santos and Delta Electricity as the Coalition mulls important energy policy decisions.
Mr Anthony's firm, which he founded, co-owns and manages as executive director, promotes him as a president of the Nationals, "one half of the ruling Coalition government". As president, he sits on policy and campaign committees, chairs the national conference and acts as a director of the Nationals' fundraising company.
But the former Howard government minister who lost his NSW seat in 2004 said he was "not directly a lobbyist" and so did not need to appear on the federal register, managed by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, which he removed himself from in 2015.
Labor's shadow special minister for state, Don Farrell, said on Saturday "the clear conflict of interest caused by Mr Anthony's positions did not simply disappear when he removed himself from the Australian government lobbyist's register".
"Malcolm Turnbull and Barnaby Joyce must insist that the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet thoroughly investigate all government contracts awarded to organisations represented by Mr Anthony's lobbying firm," Mr Farrell said.
It is understood that next week Labor will formally write to the department, which had not responded to Fairfax Media questions by the time of publication
Greens senator Lee Rhiannon said when parliament resumed she would push for a major overhaul of the system governing lobbyists.
"National Party President Larry Anthony has exploited a loophole in the lobbyist's code of conduct by personally declaring he is not a lobbyist," Ms Rhiannon said.
"The fact that Mr Anthony's name does not appear on the public register of lobbyists exposes what a farce the code of conduct is."
The code states that anyone who lobbies or employs lobbyists must appear on the register but also forbids members of party executives.
A spokesman for Nationals leader Mr Joyce said on Friday there was no possible conflict of interest regarding Mr Anthony because he was not "involved in any way with the decisions of government or cabinet".
Mr Anthony moderated the debate on energy policy at the National Party conference this year, which voted in support of a freeze and then phase out of renewable energy subsidies at a time when the government is considering a clean energy target.
When asked by Fairfax media this week about his political and commercial work, Mr Anthony said "I don't blend the two".
"We do take [the lobbyist code of conduct] very seriously and we comply with it to the letter," he said. The SAS group released a statement on Saturday saying it was "unbothered by the baseless implications on which the news story is founded".
Santos said it had "very limited interaction" with Mr Anthony while Delta Electricity said "we are not making any comment about SAS".
