An insight into the relationship between interest groups and elected officials is provided by a media story into the lobbying activities surrounding the recent Law Commission review of liquor laws, which was shown on 60 Minutes in April 2010.
Table 1:Meetings concerning alcohol for two Government Ministers 2009
| Alcohol Industy | Reporting Officials | Alcohol ‘Moderators’ | Other Government | Total Meetings | |
| Simon Power | 53% | 0% | 27% | 20% | 15 |
| Peter Dunne | 14% | 54% | 14% | 18% | 50 |
The reporters for 60 minutes used Official Information Act requests to gain information about contact between government and interest groups. Two Ministers responsible for the report, Minister of Justice Simon Power and Associate Minister for Health Peter Dunne, supplied a list of meetings held about alcohol in 2009. A summary of these meetings can be seen in Table 1.
Simon Power reported 15 meetings about alcohol, of which 8 were with representatives of sellers or manufacturers of alcohol, 3 were with Government Groups such as the Police, and 4 were with groups concerned for moderating alcohol consumption, such as the Alcohol Advisory Council (ALAC).
Peter Dunne reported 50 meetings or events last year about alcohol although 27 were with Ministry of Health Officials or ALAC, both of which report to him. 9 were with other government agencies, or international agencies such as the World Health Organisation Global Alcohol Strategy Group. 7 were with alcohol industry representatives and 7 were with groups concerned for moderating alcohol consumption.
60 minutes sought confirmation with 5 ’moderation’ groups listed as having met with Dunne to discuss Alcohol and found that only 2 talked specifically about alcohol.
The purpose of the 60 minute story was to reveal the distribution of influence around a well delineated policy domain (Bingham 2010). Given the role of government agencies in providing advice to Peter Dunne about this area it may not provide a very clear view of the substance of the views presented. It does however reveal the limits of Official Information Requests as a source of information about interaction between private interests and government.
