Heritage

Hawker Britton was established in April 1997 by Bruce Hawker and David Britton, long-standing Chief of Staff and Communications Director respectively to then Premier of NSW, Bob Carr. They opened on a self-funded basis with no established client base in a small office above an art gallery in The Rocks district of Sydney.

Bruce and David quickly became the “go-to” corporate advisers on NSW Government business matters and Hawker Britton grew quickly. They also established themselves as the pre-eminent Labor political campaign strategists working around the country.

By mid 1998, two senior staff had joined the Sydney office and, following the June election of the Beattie Labor Government in Queensland (a campaign in which Bruce Hawker played a central role), Hawker Britton opened an office in Brisbane. In this year, David Britton was also the communications director for the Federal Labor campaign.

Following Premier Carr’s re-election in 1999 a still-growing Hawker Britton moved to larger offices in a heritage post office building in Millers Point. Later that year, following the election of the Bracks Labor Government in Victoria, Hawker Britton opened an office in Melbourne.

In 2001, Hawker Britton opened offices in Perth following the election of the Gallop Labor Government – a campaign in which Hawker Britton played a major part.

Following the election of the Rann Labor Government in 2002 – the second of Rann’s campaigns in which Bruce Hawker played a central role – Hawker Britton’s Adelaide office commenced operations. In the same year, Hawker Britton’s Sydney head office moved to York Street.

In 2003, Hawker Britton opened an office in Wellington, extending its presence to New Zealand.

Bruce Hawker was a major contributor to the 2007 Federal election campaign which saw Labor returned to power in Canberra. Opening an office in Canberra the Monday following the election, Hawker Britton completed its Australian presence with offices in every mainland capital.

In 2010, Bruce Hawker retired from the firm.

Justin Di Lollo, who originally joined the business in 1999 after working for Federal Labor Opposition Leader Kim Beazley, became Managing Director. He also became Executive Director of the newly established Government Relations Division for STW Group (now WPP AUNZ).

Justin Di Lollo built on his reputation for corporate advisory and further transformed the business as a professional management consultancy.

The practices established by Justin rapidly became industry best practice, were widely copied by others, and cemented his reputation as national leader in the profession.

In 2014, Justin Di Lollo handed over the role as Managing Director of Hawker Britton to Simon Banks.

Simon has remained Hawker Britton’s Managing Director since 2014 and is regarded one of Australia’s most highly respected government relations, campaigning and strategic communications professionals.

Today, Hawker Britton is Australia’s leading government relations, strategic counsel and communications firm.

Hawker Britton runs a senior adviser only model, which means our directors across the country are drawn from senior roles in politics and government offices and are experts in their dedicated jurisdiction.

Hawker Britton provides services to companies at the federal level and in every Australian mainland state and territory jurisdiction. We also maintain our strong ties to New Zealand through government relations and communications firm Capital.

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