Independents To Force Action On Gambling, Lobbying Laws
Independents are pushing hot-button problems such as prohibiting gambling advertisements, opening ministerial journals to the public and curbing the impact of political lobbyists.
Crossbenchers have laid out a list of key priorities if they're re-elected into a hung parliament, informing a transparency online forum they'll force the government to act on the mainly untouched issues.
lobbying, allowing the national anti-corruption commission to hold public hearings, creating a whistleblower security authority and having reality in political advertising laws are amongst the targets for crossbench MPs.
This consisted of Allegra Spender, Zali Steggall, Monique Ryan, Andrew Wilkie, Kate Chaney and Senator David Pocock.
Ms Steggall pointed to customer defenses versus misleading and deceptive ads, comparing it without any reality in political advertising laws.
"It resembles we don't value our voting rights the same method as we value our customer rights," she said.
Senator Pocock called lobbying laws "an absolute joke", saying 80 percent of lobbyists weren't covered by the code of conduct and there were no genuine penalties for misconduct.
The senator and Dr Ryan have actually pushed in parliament for laws that would open ministerial journals so the public can learn about ministers consulting with lobbyists.
Ms Spender also called a total restriction on gambling advertisements after Labor shelved plans to take action.
"This is a contest between vested interests who are winning to date, versus community interests who understand that this requires to be banned and I will combat for that," she said.
Ms Spender is likewise battling the Australian Electoral Commission for more openness over its findings that one person was responsible for sending some 47,000 unauthorised pamphlets targeting her in her electorate of Wentworth.
The commission stated the individual acted alone, had no link to a political celebration or prospects contesting the seat and it was thinking about whether to promote civil penalties for breaking electoral law after the May 3 election.
Ms Spender expressed concern about keeping the identity concealed, asking "how can citizens think about the source if the AEC will not identify that source", in referral to the laws needing authorisation for openness functions.