In 2019, The Greens put forward a federal anti-corruption bill that passed through the Senate with support from Labor, Centre Alliance and Jacqui Lambie. Despite promising such a bill in the election campaign three months earlier, Morrison’s government refused to pass the anti-corruption bill through the lower house. Nearly three years later, Australia is still waiting for a federal anti-corruption body.

Greens candidate for Cunningham Dylan Green says that Australia needs to remove vested interests from politics.

“A strong, independent ICAC is essential, but Australians need more than that to restore our faith in democracy. The relationship between politicians and big business is way too tight, and big dollars flow back and forth far too readily.

“The Labor and Liberal parties have had a firm grip on Australian politics for decades, and this grip has been funded by some very big companies, including regular recipients of government contracts.

“This election, The Greens may be able to break that grip, and squeeze themselves into balance of power.

“We plan to work with Labor like we did in 2019 to pass a federal ICAC, but The Greens also want to reform political donation laws.

“The Greens want to ban all donations from gambling, tobacco, alcohol, pharmaceutical, mining, weapons, development, and banking companies. All other donations should be capped at $1,000 so that no single company or citizen has significant sway over government policy.”

There are several other policies the Greens want to implement to strengthen our democracy.

“It is currently legal to lie in political advertising. The Greens want to change this”, said Mr Green.

“I would like to see spending caps placed on election campaigns, so that the best ideas win rather than the biggest budgets.

“The Greens want to trial citizen’s juries, where groups of citizens – not politicians – discuss important issues and make recommendations to the parliament. In addition to bringing a broader life experience to political decision making, it will be a constant reminder that government is for the people.”

The Greens also want to prevent the regular exchange that occurs between parliament and big business.

“The revolving door between politics and big business needs to be stopped. The Greens want to extend the cooling off period for post-Ministerial lobbying to five years, and implement a cooling off period for all politicians and senior staff”, said Mr Green.

“David Shoebridge has been a bloodhound for corruption in NSW parliament. I can’t wait to let him loose in Canberra.”