New South Wales ministers have been warned not to meet alone with one of the most prominent lobbyists in the state, Eamonn Fitzpatrick, or his firm after the NSW Electoral Commission placed EJF Advisory on a watchlist for breaches of the lobbying code.
The NSW lobbyist register showed the firm was placed on a watchlist from 13 November 2025 “due to contraventions of the Lobbyists Code of Conduct or the Lobbying of Government Officials Act 2011 (Logo Act)”.
The commission alleged the action stemmed from instances of EJF lobbying on behalf of two clients which were not registered on the lobbyist register in 2023, and EJF Advisory’s alleged failure to confirm that its registration details were up to date by 31 May 2025, as required.
An email was sent to all NSW ministers and parliamentary secretaries in November advising them not to meet Fitzpatrick or EJF unless a minimum of two government officials (not staff from the political office) are present to take notes.
The notes must be provided to the head of the relevant public service agency the minister represents, the email stated.
Fitzpatrick was a longtime senior media adviser for several senior Labor politicians, including the former NSW premiers Bob Carr and Morris Iemma, former Queensland premier Anna Bligh and former prime ministers Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard.
He is now principal of the firm EJF Advisory, owned by EF and JH Investments Pty Ltd.
Fitzpatrick told the Guardian that transparency as third-party lobbyists and meeting his obligations in all five jurisdictions where the firm operated was a top priority.
“That’s why I self-reported two genuine errors to the NSW Electoral Commission on 1 November 2023 as soon as I became aware we had not registered two clients within the required 10 days of the firm being engaged to provide assistance,” he said.
“We rectified the lobbyist register immediately.
“We always declare who our clients are when contacting government officials. The discrepancies were picked up because of the requirement to fill out a separate meeting request for ministerial offices meeting requests and cross-referencing these with the register.”
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The clients are understood to have been an industry association and a defence contractor.
The breaches occurred in 2023 but the commission did not impose a penalty until 2025, when a further minor breach occurred – a failure to confirm client lists were up to date, as required three times a year.
“I will never play down any breach of the lobbyists code and I have taken full responsibility for our error and apologised to the commission,” Fitzpatrick said.
“We proactively cooperated with the commission throughout and happily provided all required information. We have made changes to our internal compliance systems and resourcing to ensure we don’t repeat these mistakes.
“We are strong supporters of more transparency, not less, and more proactivity from not only lobbyists but the regulator.”
Fitzpatrick is well connected within the current NSW Labor government. In the past he worked as a campaign consultant to Labor and describes his business as “a proud Labor firm”.
In the lead-up to the last state election Fitzpatrick Advisory (the firm’s previous name) donated up to the legal limit – $7,000 to NSW Labor and another $7,000 to individual Labor politicians, including $3,000 to Chris Minns, the then opposition leader.
A recent photo on his LinkedIn page shows Fitzpatrick meeting with the federal treasurer, Jim Chalmers, while a Facebook post shows him in the front row at Anthony Albanese’s victory speech after his election win in May 2025.
In March 2023, he posted a picture of himself with the newly elected premier: “Many congrats to the incoming 47th NSW Premier and my old friend and comrade Chris Minns.” Minns and Fitzpatrick worked together in Iemma’s office.
Fitzpatrick is also the NSW chair of the Australia Indonesia Business Council.
Clients of the firm currently listed on the NSW lobbying register include a number of companies which do businesses with the NSW government or whose business interests are affected by government decisions.
They include several technology companies that offer their services to government, Cimic, the owner of construction company Leighton, Optus, Qatar Airways, several property developers and Timber NSW.
A spokesperson for the premier referred any questions about specific lobbyists, compliance or regulatory action matters to the commission, the independent regulator.
“The Minns government takes integrity, transparency and public confidence in decision-making seriously,” the spokesperson said. “Ministers and their offices are required to comply with all relevant laws, codes of conduct and integrity frameworks, including the lobbying regulatory regime.”
Geoffrey Watson, a board member of the Centre for Public Integrity, said he was “quite heartened” that there is a watchlist and it “appears to be working”.
Watson said the problem with the regulation of lobbying is that it is entirely dependent on the two people being regulated – the lobbyist and the minister – doing the right thing. He also said the commission should release the names of the clients in question.
“We are entitled to transparency on this,” he said. “The influence of lobbyists on government is one of the major concerns the public has.”
The regulatory action will again focus attention on potential risks inherent in former staffers and ministers becoming lobbyists and their interactions with current ministers and senior bureaucrats.
In 2021, the Independent Commission against Corruption made 29 recommendations to address identified shortfalls in the Logo Act.
Releasing the report, the then Icac chief commissioner, Peter Hall KC, said “investigations have shown that lobbying, access and influence can result in favouritism, or even corrupt conduct, and the present regulation is deficient”.
It recommended that there be a dedicated lobbying commissioner and greater obligations on ministers to declare interactions including more ephemeral meetings not held in offices.
It also recommended specific rules around fundraising events attended by lobbyists.
But the report has not been acted upon by this or the previous government.
Lobbyists operating in NSW are obliged to complete a form each time they meet a minister and submit it to the commission. However, this mechanism would not pick informal meetings or if the minister and lobbyist ignore the process.
EJF is also listed as a lobbyist on the federal government lobbyist register and in Victoria.
The federal attorney general’s department administers the federal register.
A spokesperson said the federal code required lobbyists to review their registrations twice a year and confirm they were accurate and up to date.
“There have been 14 confirmed breaches of the code since 2023,” the spokesperson said. “These were administrative in nature and resolved through engagement between the department and relevant lobbyists.”
The department would not comment on individual matters but Fitzpatrick confirmed he had also notified the federal authorities in relation to one client which had not been listed and that it had been resolved without sanction.
• The headline on this article was amended on 7 January 2026. A previous version said ministers were told not to meet the lobbyist “alone”, but ministers are required to bring ministerial staff on all occasions when they meet a lobbyist.
