Community Independent MPs are getting a lot of good things done
Political donations, lack of transparency and pork barrelling are among the highest ranking concerns of the people in Forrest who shared their views with us.
"Transparency of political donations and lobby group support and access", "transparency, accountability, donations, lobbyists - that’s a voice we don’t even know about and they’re just influencing the system. We’re seeing politicians go straight into these jobs after they leave parliament. It needs to be far more clear what’s going on behind the scenes. Good donation reform that does lift up the independent voices. Community support as opposed to corporate support. They’re not upholding human rights. We have no faith in our leaders anymore - we can throw as much money at it and royal commissions but it hasn’t helped so far. "
We're very pleased to see a group of Independent and Green MPs stepping up:
Mega donations of more than $1.5m would be banned under a crossbench plan to get big money out of politics. Lower house independents, including Kate Chaney, Zali Steggall, the Greens, David Pocock, Lidia Thorpe and the Jacqui Lambie Network, will present a united front by introducing the fair and transparent elections bill in both houses of parliament. The bill contains a suite of reforms including truth-in-political advertising, a ban on donations from socially harmful industries including fossil fuels, and tightening the definition of gifts to capture major party fundraisers, including dinners and business forums.
Rorts, whether sports or otherwise, are another raw nerve among our community supporters. Helen Haines, Independent member for Indi, is helping the current government stay on the right track:
As part of a push for greater transparency, independent federal member of parliament Helen Haines wants to legislate to force current and future governments to apply merit-based criteria and publish clear guidelines for all Commonwealth grants, subjecting those valued at more than $100 million to extra scrutiny.