The Victorian public needs to be able to trust that the public sector is operating:
In your role as an employee you need to place, and be seen to place, the public interest before your private interests.
Your employment obligations provide the framework for doing so, including:
For example, item 2.2 of the employee code requires you to implement and administer the policies and programs of the elected government of the day in an apolitical manner.
In this guide we use the term ‘employee’ to cover:
The guide applies to former registered lobbyists and former government affairs directors.
Lobbyists engaged by third party clients to influence government decision-making on their behalf must register under the Victorian Government Professional Lobbyist Code of Conduct (lobbyist code).
Use the guide if:
The lobbyist code also requires certain government affairs directors to be registered. Use this guide if:
If this guide doesn’t apply to you but you’re an employee with an ongoing duty or loyalty to an organisation, group or cause, read our guidance on duties, loyalties and biases.
A conflict of interest exists if you have a private interest that could influence, or reasonably be seen to influence, how you perform your public duties.
The conflict can be:
Conflicts of interest must be avoided where possible. But it’s common for them to occur. If a conflict exists, you must:
A conflict of interest can arise from many different sources. For example, it may be a conflict between your public duties and a loyalty or bias you have to an organisation, group, person or cause that you:
Being a former registered lobbyist or former registered government affairs director can increase the risk of a conflict of interest (actual, potential or perceived).
Whilst you may not have an actual or potential conflict, it’s likely there will be a heightened risk of a perceived conflict of interest.
For example, it’s likely that the public could reasonably perceive you have a private interest that could conflict with your public duties – such as an enduring loyalty or bias resulting from your former lobbying activities.
Given the increased risk of a perceived conflict of interest, we recommend that as a precautionary measure:
The conflict of interest management plan will usually be based on risk mitigation strategies similar to those in our model policy:
The plan should be proportionate to the risk level. It will depend on factors such as:
The risk level may vary from time to time. For example, for most of the time, the risk level of the conflict of interest may be low.
The management plan may simply be to:
If the risk level increases, stronger risk management strategies may need to be included in the plan.
If the risk level rises in relation to a particular matter or type of matter, the plan should be reviewed. One possible adjustment would be that:
For some situations, the conflict of interest risk level may be inherently high risk. This will need to be reflected in the conflict of interest management plan.
If you are working in the same portfolio you previously lobbied on behalf of clients, the conflict of interest risk level (actual, potential or perceived) is likely to be high - particularly if you’re in a senior position, and even more so if you’re likely to interact with the Minister’s office or any former contacts working there.
The conflict of interest management plan may need to carefully set out a range of circumstances where, at a minimum, you will be removed from taking part in any discussion or decision-making on certain issues and from being present when they occur.
In this situation, you and your manager will need to be vigilant in monitoring for changes that may affect the management plan or its risk level, to ensure the plan continues to be a suitable strategy in the public interest.