Business political activism and government relations in large companies in Australia

This paper reports on findings of recent empirical research which deals with the prevalence and role of government relations functions in large companies in Australia. It is argued that large firms have become more politically active in the last two decades and that many of the largest firms have established specialised government relations functions. The operation of such functions is discussed and the implications of such ‘in house’ corporate political activism for the role of business associations is explored.