Healthy Skepticism Library item: 13173

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: news

Crabb A.
Business seeks date, then a spot in Labor's bed
Sydney Morning Herald 2008 Mar 14
http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/annabel-crabb/2008/03/13/1205126111563.html

Full text:

UNDER THE FLAG

FOR several months now, Canberra has played informal host to the Suckup Olympics, as corporate Australia jostles to ingratiate itself with senior members of the Ruddocracy.

Some companies have used personalised stubby holders, T-shirts and other tasteful gifts to lubricate their overtures to the new occupants of Parliament House’s ministerial wing.

But the personalised desk calendar constructed and distributed by the pharmaceutical firm Pfizer appears to have the gold medal pretty much in the bag.

Every leaf of the calendar brings a new rendering of the Kevin07 logo.

On February’s page, it is spelled out in cocoa, dusted on top of a cappuccino.

For July, it is picked out in diamonds, scattered across a glass table top and further embellished by a lavish, sparkling diamond ring.

And October’s Kevin07 legend is cutely created by children, with pebbles on the beach.

As if the personal attention paid to Kevin07 were not enough, Pfizer has made personalised calendars in a similar vein for every minister and parliamentary secretary.

The Treasurer, for instance, has received a “Wayne” version, and so on.

“Unbelievable. You’ve got to hand it to them,” said one cabinet minister, who, like all of his colleagues, is receiving a blizzard of gifts and invitations from lobbyists and companies eager to chum up to the new regime.

Pfizer, like most of the big pharmaceutical companies, has an interest in maintaining cordial links with all senior ministers; any public drug listing worth more than $10 million goes automatically to cabinet for approval.

Ironically, the calendars bear the name and contact details of Pfizer’s government relations manager, David Miles, a gregarious conservative whose past life as a Liberal Party adviser included a stint working for the former Howard minister Nick Minchin.

Like many lobbyists, Mr Miles is now forced by circumstance to transfer his attentions to the ALP; no Brendan Nelson calendars have been printed.

Mr Miles declined to comment yesterday.

The lobbyist jam that currently exists in Parliament House has been heightened by the Prime Minister’s decision to cut ministerial staffing numbers by 30 per cent.

“There are fewer staff, and not all of them know what they’re doing yet,” remarked one Canberra lobbyist yesterday.

But despite the heightened levels of activity, Kevin Rudd’s other promise – to establish a lobbyists’ register – remains unfulfilled.

Mr Rudd told caucus on Tuesday that the register was “almost complete”.

Confusion persists about how the Government will define “lobbyists”. Will compulsory registration apply to past prime ministers who adopt causes? What penalty will be attached to the offence of unlicensed lobbying?

One lobbyist wandering the ministerial wing on Wednesday told the Herald that the register, which Mr Rudd says will be made publicly available, was a good idea.

“It’s going to be great,” he said.

“Free advertising!”