Lobbying, status quo building and housing policy normalisation in Aotearoa-New Zealand

This article documents and explores the wider housing lobby environment in Aotearoa-New Zealand. It asks how, if at all, professional advocacy has shaped housing policy towards more neoliberal outcomes, thus benefitting corporate and elite vested interests? It focuses on a mix of professional government relations (GR) practitioners, professional associations, large corporations and third sector campaigners involved in the lobbying process. It draws from an interdisciplinary mixed-methods project that combines interviews, content analysis and a series of audits (ministerial diaries, GR personnel). The findings suggest that third sector campaigners have had some success in influencing some policy outcomes, especially when left-leaning governments are in power. However, overall, the third sector has consistent large access and resource deficits and therefore reduced influence. More significantly, the greater influence of the larger corporate advocacy sector is in its facilitation of wide social and professional networks that link parliamentarians, business leaders and others. Such status quo building then operates to normalize neoliberal policy norms and to counter progressive challenges to vested interests in housing policy.