Left-wing lobby group Hawker Britton has secured the appointment of Labour chief of staff Neale Jones.

Labour's chief of staff has taken a job with a left-wing lobby group that's reopening its New Zealand office, following the change of government.

Neale Jones will start working for left-wing Australian lobby firm Hawker Britton on Monday.

Hawker Britton had a bricks and mortar operation in New Zealand under Helen Clark's Labour Government but withdrew under John Key's National Government, and established a New Zealand office for its right-wing sister firm Barton Deakin instead.

TWITTER "We're looking forward to coming home," Hawker Britton MD Simon Banks says.

Hawker Britton managing director Simon Banks, who is seen as one of Australia's most powerful lobbyists, said his firm was "coming home" to lobby the new Labour-led government.

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Jones has been hired as the firm's sole New Zealand director — this is the same model employed by sister firm Barton Deakin.

MAARTEN HOLL/STUFF Barton Deakin NZ director Jenna Raeburn with her partner National MP Chris Bishop.

The former Labour man was chief of staff to Jacinda Ardern and former Labour leader Andrew Little.

He also previously worked as political director and communications director in the Labour leader's office, he was also part of the negotiation team for coalition talks with New Zealand First and the Greens.

Hawker Britton said this background gave Jones "a deep knowledge of the political environment in New Zealand and a valuable insight into how to engage constructively with the Ardern Government".

Jones was part of Labour's coalition negotiation team.

Jones would officially leave Labour on Friday, and start his new role on Monday.

A political background, good knowledge of the landscape and a fat contact book were useful for a lobbyist, and in New Zealand there were no regulations around who could become a lobbyist, or registers to show who had been lobbying whom.

Barton Deakin New Zealand director Jenna Raeburn — a former National ministerial adviser — said while there weren't formal regulations, lobbyists self-regulated.

For instance she did not take any contracts relating to the Christchurch rebuild as she came straight from Gerry Brownlee's office.

If there was an obvious conflict of interest, it would become apparent pretty quickly, and a lobbyist's professional reputation could be damaged, she said.

This would be the first time two partisan lobbying firms had operated in this way in New Zealand. Hawker Britton and Barton Deakin pioneered the approach in Australia.

"It's worth working both sides. It just depends what the issue is," Raeburn said.

Hawker Britton has been operating in Australia for more than 20 years.