pushing --it uphill with a pointy stick

Lobbyists. Few terms conjure up more negatives. Back-room deals; expensive media campaigns; revolving doors between the public and private sectors and even outright corruption.
Despite its constitutional protections, or perhaps because of them, American lobbying has fostered some remarkable excesses and criminality, from railroad pay-offs in the late 1800s to convictions of uber-lobbyist Jack Abramoff and several legislators within the past 10 years.
Regardless, the lobbying ''industry'', in the US, Australia and around the world, continues to grow. As public policies become more complex and the stakes of government decisions rise, all interests need effective representation. Moreover, policymakers require better information, as the recent mining tax fiasco in Australia demonstrated so well.
Government officials often need lobbyists, and vice-versa. Such reciprocity will always be suspicious, but the public should not view the relationship as necessarily corrupt. Indeed, it may be beneficial.
More importantly, at least for the Commonwealth, it's hard to know who the lobbyists are or what they do. The registration requirements are minimal, to the point that more lobbyists are likely avoid registration than sign up. In-house lobbyists are excluded, as are those who develop grassroots campaigns. From one 2011 list of the most powerful 20 lobbyists in Australia, only five had registered.
In addition, registrants have no obligation to report what they do or how much money they spend. So while Hawker-Britton employs 12 registered lobbyists and has 113 clients, we cannot discover on what issues they lobby, who they have contacted or how much they've spent. Since 2007, US registration has required such information.
Those Australian lobbyists who do register must disclose if they have served in the government - but that's all.
CORPORATE Australia and unions are exploiting gaps in the new lobbying rules during a period where dozens of important - and lucrative - economic reviews are under way.
Big accounting and legal firms are emerging as some of the biggest players on the professional lobby circuit, using former political heavyweights to access the corridors of Parliament on behalf of their clients, free of scrutiny.
Firms such as KPMG, Ernst & Young and Deloitte, previously seen as non-political, have become seriously powerful in Canberra at a time the government is considering overhauling key parts of the taxation system and retirement savings.
Their power is increasing as traditional lobbyists are being sidelined following the introduction of lobbying codes of conduct, which require official lobbying firms to disclose their clients.
Some of the more high-profile players include Kevin Rudd's former boss, Wayne Goss, as chairman of accounting giant Deloitte, the former NSW premier Bob Carr at Macquarie Group, and the former Victorian premier Steve Bracks on KPMG's list of consultants.
Listed companies have also stepped up efforts to hire former politicians and their staff.
Wesfarmers, which owns retail group Coles, recently hired the former West Australian premier Alan Carpenter - who extended retail trading hours in that state - as its head of public relations.
Some are understood to be on big incentive bonuses if a certain development, project or policy is successful .
So what has our? Chairman at ARL done for us?
According to the Government of Australia lobbyist register, clients associated with David Beddall and Associates Pty Ltd have not declared any donations since 1998.