Lisa Margaret Buffinton (ANU UID: U4699563) Corporate political activity agents: Understanding how firms use expert consultants to transmit information to regulators of risky products Student: Lisa Margaret Buffinton February 2019 A thesis submitted for the degree of Master of Philosophy (Regulation & Governance) of the Australian National University © Copyright by Lisa Margaret Buffinton 2019 | All Rights Reserved i Lisa Margaret Buffinton (ANU UID: U4699563) Declaration I declare that this thesis is entirely my own work and to the best of my knowledge contains no written material by another person, except as directly referred to in the text. The word count for this thesis is 51,688. (This figure is exclusive of footnotes, tables, figures, maps, bibliographies and appendices). Lisa Buffinton Date: 24 February 2019 © Copyright by Lisa Margaret Buffinton 2019 | All Rights Reserved ii Lisa Margaret Buffinton (ANU UID: U4699563) Acknowledgements To my family and friends. Thank you for your encouragement. A special thanks to Joshua Sidgwick, Anna Bounds and Tom Lyons for reviewing my manuscript. This work is dedicated to my grandma, Peg White: An inspiration in my life who sought knowledge, truth and mutual understanding for the benefit of all. To Sandra Jones, Karen Smith, Chris Morrison, and NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research. Your research on the mechanics of alcohol harms triggered critical industry responses, which are the subject of this thesis. I hope these experiences embolden you to continue your important work. To my school. I am most grateful for the generosity of time, insights and spirit of my supervisors (Prof. Sharon Friel, Dr. Melanie Pescud, Dr. Timothy Legrand), teachers (Dr. Miranda Forsyth, Dr. Kate Henne, Prof. Veronica Taylor, Dr. Jeroen van der Heijden, Prof. Neil Gunningham, Prof. John Braithwaite) and mentors (Prof. Valerie Braithwaite, Dr. Christian Downie, Dr. Ibi Losoncz, Dr. Anthea Roberts, Dr. Ashley Schram, Dr. Belinda Townsend, and Kirsty Anantharajah) at the ANU School of Regulation and Global Governance. It is an honour to learn from and add to the School’s catalogue of knowledge. The experience of this Master’s degree has enriched me immeasurably. To Narelle Robertson. I am most grateful for your generous advice and resources that kick- started the maturation of my project into an academic thesis. To the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE). I am most grateful to FARE for providing me with copies of the freedom of information-released data (requested by FARE) that underpins this thesis. © Copyright by Lisa Margaret Buffinton 2019 | All Rights Reserved iii Lisa Margaret Buffinton (ANU UID: U4699563) Abstract This thesis contributes to understanding how firms use expert consultants to transmit information to regulators of risky products. This topic has been extensively investigated regarding the tobacco industry but is not as well-understood in relation to the alcohol industry. Alcohol shares similarities with tobacco as a legal, widely-consumed yet disease-bearing product that is regulated to influence the incidence of harms. Submissions to Australian government regulators reveal that liquor retailers have used expert consultants to resist harm prevention policies that restrict alcohol availability and promotion. Three analyses were performed to explore this topic. First, an extensive literature review examines current knowledge on the corporate political activities (CPA) of industries who are specially regulated to mitigate health risks. Second, a taxonomy was developed to define how the tobacco industry used expert consultants for CPA purposes. Third, this taxonomy was applied to three cases where an Australian alcohol retailer used CPA expert consultants. This thesis found that firms use expert consultants as CPA agents when there is an “information threat” that may pose an existential threat to the firm. CPA expert consultants were used to transmit information in a manner that achieves special perlocutionary speech effects in the policy arena. This thesis found 23 characteristics of how expert consultants are used by firms as CPA agents; of which, 15 were newly-identified, distinct characteristics of this practice. The 23 characteristics can be grouped among four thematic dimensions: distinct motivating factors (motivators), strategic and tactical CPA approaches to using expert consultants, and the distinct attributes of CPA expert consultants. Each characteristic is supported by between six and 22 of the 24 source articles. This thesis also found significant parallels between the tobacco and alcohol industries in their use of CPA expert consultants. This thesis concludes that Industrial expert consultants are not disinterested authorities on the subjects for which their services are commissioned. Rather, they are agents of their industrial sponsor’s political interests. Consequently, any information they produce and submit to regulators should be understood in the context of pursuing the industries interests and made publicly-available to support transparent policy-making. © Copyright by Lisa Margaret Buffinton 2019 | All Rights Reserved iv Lisa Margaret Buffinton (ANU UID: U4699563) Contents Declaration ................................................................................................................................................................. ii Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................................ iii Abstract ....................................................................................................................................................................... iv Contents ...................................................................................................................................................................... v List of tables .............................................................................................................................................................. xi List of figures ........................................................................................................................................................... xii Epigraph ...................................................................................................................................................................... 1 Epigraph references ............................................................................................................................................ 2 1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................................... 3 1.1 Context ...................................................................................................................................................... 3 1.1.1 Alcohol use in Australia .................................................................................................................. 3 1.1.2 Alcohol-related harms and their associated costs................................................................ 4 1.1.3 The alcohol market in Australia ................................................................................................... 4 1.1.4 Vested interests in alcohol policy and regulation ................................................................. 5 1.2 Trigger for this research project ....................................................................................................... 5 1.3 Research questions ............................................................................................................................... 5 1.4 Research aims ......................................................................................................................................... 7 1.5 Significance .............................................................................................................................................. 8 1.6 Research approach ................................................................................................................................ 8 1.7 Structure of the response ................................................................................................................... 8 1.8 Key concepts and terms ...................................................................................................................... 9 1.9 Chapter 1 (Introduction) references ............................................................................................... 9 2 Literature Review .......................................................................................................................................... 11 2.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 11 © Copyright by Lisa Margaret Buffinton 2019 | All Rights Reserved v Lisa Margaret Buffinton (ANU UID: U4699563) 2.2 Regulation of products that carry health risks ........................................................................ 11 2.2.1 Historical and philosophical views on regulation .............................................................. 12 2.2.2 Risk-based regulation of consumer products ..................................................................... 13 2.2.3 Regulation of alcohol and its health risks ............................................................................