Australia
The Definitive Ranking of Australia's Government Relations Firms
Influence500 tracks the leading government relations and lobbying firms in Australia.
Influence500 tracks the leading government relations and lobbying firms in Australia.
Our data-driven methodology for ranking federal government relations and lobbying firms in Australia.
All ranking data comes from the Australian Government Register of Lobbyists, maintained by the Attorney-General's Department. This register is updated in real-time as firms register clients and lobbyists, and is publicly accessible and independently verifiable.
Data Attribution: Data sourced from the Australian Government Register of Lobbyists, © Commonwealth of Australia 2025, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
The source data has been processed and transformed for analysis, including aggregation of registrations by firm, calculation of derived metrics (growth rates, relationship longevity), standardisation of entity names and deduplication, and integration with our proprietary ranking algorithms.
The top 30 firms, ranked by composite score across largest client portfolios (60%), client relationship longevity (25%), market tenure (5%), year-over-year client growth (5%), and lobbyist team size (5%), demonstrating overall strength across all dimensions.
This weighting reflects what matters most in government relations: a broad client portfolio combined with the ability to maintain long-term relationships.
In addition to the composite Top 30 Firms, we publish five specialized rankings that focus on individual performance dimensions:
The Fast Growth ranking requires firms to meet specific eligibility criteria to ensure statistically meaningful comparisons:
Minimum Requirements:
Why the 5-Client Minimum?
The minimum ensures statistically meaningful growth comparisons. Without it, a firm going from 1→3 clients (200% growth) would outrank a firm growing from 50→100 clients (100% growth), despite the latter demonstrating far more substantial market momentum.
Small firms with fewer than 5 clients experience high volatility—losing or gaining a single client creates dramatic percentage swings that don't reflect genuine business trajectory. A firm going from 2→4 clients shows 100% growth, but this could simply be two fortunate introductions rather than systematic market expansion.
The Purpose of Minimum Thresholds:
The 5-client threshold balances inclusivity for emerging firms while ensuring growth rates reflect genuine business expansion rather than early-stage volatility. It creates an apples-to-apples comparison by requiring:
This methodology ensures the Fast Growth ranking recognizes firms with genuine momentum and scaling capabilities, not just startups with their first few clients.
Rankings are recalculated daily as new data becomes available from the government register, ensuring our rankings reflect current market positioning.
While our methodology is robust, we acknowledge certain limitations:
Data Scope: Rankings are based solely on government registry data. Factors like quality of work, client satisfaction, and policy outcomes are not captured by official registrations.
Registration Lag: There may be a delay between a client engagement beginning and its appearance in government registries due to registration requirements and processing times.
Jurisdiction Boundaries: Rankings are jurisdiction-specific (e.g., Federal vs State) as firms register separately for each jurisdiction.
Quantitative Focus: Our algorithm emphasises measurable factors. Qualitative aspects like reputation, relationship quality, and strategic counsel are not directly captured.
We recommend using Influence500 rankings as one input in your firm selection process, alongside reference checks, proposal evaluations, and direct conversations with firms.