Standards of Ministerial Ethics

The Prime Minister has published the Standards of Ministerial Ethics (pdf) which set out his expectations of his Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries.

"In several important aspects, the Standards will require Ministers to accept higher levels of conduct than has been the case in the past. In particular:
• Lobbyists will be required to register their details publicly on a Register of Lobbyists to be established by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet before seeking access to Ministers or their offices;
• Ministers will be required to undertake that, when they leave office, they will not seek to have business dealings with members of the Government, the Public Service or the Defence Force on any matters that they dealt with in an official capacity in the preceding 18 months;
• Electoral fundraising at The Lodge and Kirribilli House will be prohibited;
• Ministers will be required to divest themselves of all shareholdings other than through investment vehicles such as broadly diversified superannuation funds or publicly listed managed or trust arrangements."