Assisting an Australian Government Agency to Engage with Parliament

Project Overview

Our client was a small, newly formed, highly technical Australian Government agency that did not have access to expertise on legislative and parliamentary processes. It had undertaken extensive community and industry consultation on new policy, but its progress in turning that into legislation for passage had stalled.

Challenges

The government agency needed to understand and develop expertise in legislative processes and the nuances of parliamentary engagement to:

1. Ensure legislation was fit for passage: The legislation needed to accord with the Government’s priorities and understand/address any concerns with its regulatory impact.

2. Understand parliamentary processes: The agency needed to understand the processes involved in finalising legislation for introduction, debate and passage.

3. Appreciate the make-up & nuances of Parliament: The agency needed to get a detailed understanding of the current make-up, dynamics and nuances of the Australian Parliament to better support the Government gain passage of the legislation.

Implementation

To achieve the client’s objectives, Pyne & Partners employed a strategy focused on agency education, government relations and advocacy, aligning our efforts with the procedural norms of government decision-making and the Parliament’s legislative process.

Pyne & Partners utilised our established connections and expertise in government relations to:

1. Engage Stakeholders: Engaging with key agency officials, legislators, and ministerial offices to educate them on how the legislative process works, key objectives, engagement hurdles, protocols and milestones to be met.

2. Evidence Gather: Provide a detailed report on the Australian Parliament, key engagement points and the nuances of each.

3. Strategic Communication: Help the agency develop key messages for communicating with parliamentary and legislative stakeholders to pass the legislation.

4. Provide Ongoing Strategic Advice to the Client: To help them ensure the legislation was passage fit and navigate the legislative process and the impacts of the changes in the Parliament post 2022 election.

Outcomes

1. Agency Expertise: The agency developed sound knowledge of the legislative process, the milestones needing to be met and the requirements for it to be fit for passage.

2. Parliamentary Analysis: Pyne & Partners provided a detailed report on the current parliament, key stakeholders and the nuances of each for use by the agency to better understand and engage with the Opposition, crossbench and parliamentary committees on the legislation to help ensure its passage.

3. Policy Influence: The work highlighted the importance of ensuring understanding key stakeholder groups and the impacts of legislation, better influencing the agency’s future policy-making processes.

Conclusion

By leveraging our expertise in parliamentary process, government relations and advocacy, we were able to assist the agency to better understand the legislative environment; successfully engage with its minister, the Government more broadly and the Parliament on the strategic and technical elements of the legislation.

Our strategic approach ensured that the agency was better placed in communicating about the intent and purpose of the legislation and how it would contribute to a better outcome for Australians.