Two years ago then prime minister Tony Abbott was unequivocal in his rejection of the need for a federal version of NSW's Independent Commission Against Corruption.
After Fairfax Media's publication of a story about political fundraising by the North Sydney Forum in Treasurer Joe Hockey's seat, Abbott was asked if there was a need for such a watchdog.
![Tony Abbott says lobbyists holding senior positions in the NSW Liberal Party present a corruption risk.](/web/20160812064815im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/o/3/z/u/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gqptpi.png/1470931633652.jpg)
His firm view was that "we have a pretty clean polity" at a Commonwealth level and there was no need for a specialist anti-corruption body.
But this week Abbott raised the spectre of potential corruption at both a state and federal level during his condemnation of the intersection between business and political interests within sections of the NSW Liberal party.
His view on the need for a federal ICAC might not have changed, but his observations, perhaps inadvertently, delivered a powerful case for one.
On Monday night Abbott returned to one of his pet subjects: the issue of lobbyists holding positions of power in the NSW division.
"A lobbyist is someone who makes money out of getting people in front of politicians; a powerbroker is someone who controls or influences the preselections of those politicians," he told ABC's Four Corners.
"Now if you are making money out of the people whose preselections you control or influence, there is obviously a potential for corruption. And that's the last thing that we should have inside the Liberal Party."Abbott has highlighted this before when as PM he banned party officials from lobbying his government. Then Premier Barry O'Farrell emulated the changes at the state level.
But this time Abbott went further and invoked the c-word.
Much of the motivation is no doubt to do with the ongoing tensions between Abbott's right faction and the dominant left and centre right factions in NSW, but he is completely right.
While he didn't mention him by name, his primary targets were lobbyists Michael Photios and Nick Campbell who are significant players in the left and centre right respectively.
Photios and Campbell run lobbying firm Capital Hill, representing the interests of private clients to the federal government.
They also run Premier State, which does the same for a string of private clients at the NSW government level.
As Abbott alluded to, Photios and Campbell's influence on the preselection of Liberal MPs at both levels creates an potential of undue influence if they or their representatives end up lobbying those same MPs, potentially even as ministers.
Photios holds enormous influence within the NSW division as chairman of the moderate board – essentially the board of directors of the left faction.
His deputy chairman is North Sydney MP Trent Zimmerman, who is also NSW party president.
When the moderate board meets, it is often to discuss preselection tactics: who to back and who to block from entry into parliament.
It's not just Photios. Another member of the board is Joe Tannous, who owns lobbying firm First State.
As Fairfax has previously reported, a First State lobbyist at the time, Neil Harley, ran the 2013 election campaign of pubs heir Craig Laundy who become the member for Reid.
Laundy was recently promoted to assistant minister for Industry, Innovation and Science. Harley is now Laundy's chief of staff.
None of this suggests any kind of actual corruption. But as Abbott rightly pointed out, the perception that there is potential risk in these types of relationships is certainly there.
What is clear is that Abbott and O'Farrell's edict – which saw Photios and Tannous quit their positions on the NSW Liberal state executive to keep their lobbying businesses – has failed in its intent.
Photios and Tannous have every right to run their businesses. But they should quit their senior and powerful roles within the left faction to avoid any perception of corruption risk.
That is highly unlikely to happen. In the meantime, Malcolm Turnbull should have a chat to Premier Mike Baird about the benefits of an ICAC.
He should have a good, hard look at the situation in his own backyard and consider Abbott's comments – and take calls for a federal ICAC seriously.
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