Anacta Consulting
1. Business / Trading Name: Anacta Consulting New Zealand Limited (trading as “Anacta Consulting”).
2. Company Number: 8284481.
3. NZBN: 9429050192052.
4. Entity Type: NZ Limited Company.
5. Business Classification: none given.
6. LinkedIn Industry Category: Government Relations Services
7. Year Founded: 2019 (Anacta group founded in Australia in 2019 ; New Zealand entity incorporated in December 2021,.
8. Addresses:
• Registered Office: C/O Baker Tilly Staples Rodway Waikato LP – Level 3, Building E, Union Square, 192 Anglesea Street, Hamilton 3204, New Zealand.
• Address for Service: Level 4, 354 Victoria Street, Hamilton 3204, New Zealand.
(The registered office was initially at an accounting firm’s address in Hamilton, later a Hamilton CBD address was listed as the company’s contact location.)
9. Website URL:
https://www.anacta.com.au
10. LinkedIn URL: https://www.linkedin.com/company/anacta-consulting – “Anacta Consulting” company page.
11. Company Hub NZ URL: https://www.companyhub.nz/companyDetails.cfm?nzbn=9429050192052.
12. NZ Companies Office URL
https://app.companiesoffice.govt.nz/co/8284481
13. Social Media URLs:
• LinkedIn: (see above, item 10) – primary social media presence for announcements.
• Twitter (X): https://twitter.com/_Anacta
14. Ultimate Holding Company: Anacta Holdings New Zealand Limited
15. Key Shareholders: Anacta Consulting NZ is wholly owned by Anacta Holdings New Zealand Limited. The holding company’s shares are split evenly between three shareholders : David Talbot (33.33%), Odette Holdings Qld Pty Limited (33.33%), and Elm Assets Pty Limited (33.33%).
16. Leadership:
• Evan Robert Moorhead – Founding Director (Group CEO): Former Queensland MP and ALP state secretary, leads Anacta’s trans-Tasman team.
• David Nelson – Founding Director: Campaign strategist who helped lead UK Labour’s 2024 campaign and Australia’s 2022 campaign. Now heading the new UK office).
• David Talbot – Founding Partner: Political pollster/strategist for NZ’s last two Labour Prime Ministers. Co-founder of Talbot Mills Research.
• Stephen Mills – Senior Counsel: Veteran political adviser (to former NZ PM David Lange) and founding partner in Talbot Mills Research.
17. Staff include:
Ben Taumoepeau (Account Executive; former researcher for NZ Prime Ministers Ardern and Hipkins).
17a. Staff with Previous Government Roles:
Stephen Mills – former chief adviser to NZ Prime Minister David Lange in the 1980s.
Ben Taumoepeau – researcher in the NZ Prime Minister’s office under Ardern and Hipkins.
18. Past Employees:
Andrew Kirton (Former Executive Director NZ, former General Secretary of the NZ Labour Party and campaign manager for PM Jacinda Ardern ; also advisor to former PM Helen Clark.)
Zoë Tame (held previous govt role)
Bridget Service (held previous govt role)
19. Clients and industries/sectors represented
Healthcare Australian and New Zealand Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons Limited, Pharmacy Guild of Australia
Technology and Social Media TikTok Australia
Energy, Resources and Infrastructure “several energy and transport firms” in Australia and New Zealand, e.g. Glencore
Alcohol and Beverage Lion, Asahi, Coca-Cola
Retail Countdown (Woolworths)
Gambling and Racing Tabcorp, Jera, ParkWind
Law PGMBM
Insurance AssetInsure
State Entities and Universities (government records obtained by RNZ suggest)
22. Publicly Disclosed Engagements:
Lobbying against the proposed Container Return Scheme (CRS):
In 2022, Anacta (led by Andrew Kirton) coordinated industry input to Ministers, emailing ministerial offices to set up meetings for clients like Asahi. Anacta helped Lion, Asahi and Coca-Cola jointly urge changes to the recycling scheme, including a halved deposit fee. Correspondence released under the OIA shows Anacta’s involvement in arranging informal meetings (“a quick beer”) between beverage executives and officials.
Supermarket executive access:
In Jan 2022, Kirton (on behalf of Countdown) invited Finance Minister Grant Robertson to a private dinner with the supermarket’s executives to discuss sector issues. Robertson accepted and met the client in March 2022.
23. Affiliations:
NZ, AU and UK Labour Parties
NZ Polling Research Firm Talbot Mills Research
24. Sponsorships / Collaborations:
25. Events (held or organised by this organisation):
26. Political Donations: In 2021/22 Anacta Strategies donated $179,430 to the Australian Labour Party
27. Controversies:
High profile example of ‘revolving door’ between parliament and corporate interests. Appointment of Anacta’s NZ director Andrew Kirton as Prime Minister Chris Hipkins’ Chief of Staff in 2023, immediately after Kirton had been lobbying for Anacta against a government policy (the container return scheme) on behalf of corporate clients. Hipkins subsequently dropped the policy.
David Talbot, Labour’s Pollster runs a corporate poll for Anacta. Integration of polling firm Talbot Mills into larger group of Anacta Companies raises concerns about availability of polling or campaign data to the wider firm’s private clients.
2022 “Blacklisting” of firm in Queensland during integrity crackdown
28. Other Information of Note
29. Recipient of Wage Subsidy Scheme: No
[1] https://www.anacta.com.au/news/labour-specialist-agency-anacta-opens-in-uk#:~:text=said%20in%20a%20statement
[2] https://www.anacta.com.au/news/labour-specialist-agency-anacta-opens-in-uk#:~:text=said%20in%20a%20statement
[3] https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/lobbying/486382/prime-minister-s-chief-of-staff-andrew-kirton-led-lobbying-firm-that-fought-against-reforms-now-binned-by-chris-hipkins
[4] https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/off-the-shelf/story/2018908575/fully-embedded-the-food-lobby-in-aotearoa
[5] https://www.thepost.co.nz/politics/360596245/four-year-terms-whats-catch
Spot anything in this entry that is wrong? Please either leave a comment at the end or email, in confidence: bryce@democracyproject.nz