Independent Tim Storer warns voter confidence in politics is at ‘all-time low’ as he wins crossbench support for transparency charter

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Independent senator Tim Storer says the major parties were “protecting their own skins” when they opposed a dramatic overhaul of anti-corruption measures proposed by a for-once united crossbench, including One Nation and Greens senators.

On Wednesday, 18 crossbenchers backed Storer’s “transparency charter”, which called for real-time disclosure of donations, a strong and well-resourced integrity commission, codes of conduct for MPs, reforms of freedom of information laws, stronger whistleblower protections, and changes to lobbyist rules.

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The disparate group supporting the independent senator included representatives of the far right – One Nation senator Peter Georgiou and United Australia party senator, Brian Burston – as well as Centre Alliance and the Greens members, who said the crossbench proposal “consolidates probably 10 years of Greens work on integrity measures”.

In the lower house, Storer was supported by retiring MP Cathy McGowan, Andrew Wilkie and Adam Bandt.

The proposal, inspired in part by Guardian Australia’s Transparency Project, came before the Senate on Wednesday.

“Public confidence in our federal politics is at an all-time low,” Storer told the Senate. “With scandal after scandal involving corruption, misuse of public funds, political donations, unregulated lobbyists and attacks on whistleblowers, it’s no wonder people are fed up.”

The support of either of the major parties would have seen Storer’s motion pass the Senate.

Neither offered their support. Labor said it understood “the intent” of Storer’s motion, but it contained proposals that required more careful policy consideration.

Storer told Guardian Australia the major parties had fundamentally misread voter sentiment. He said that would cost them at the election in May.

“We are seeing voters desert the major parties in droves,” Storer said. “If the major parties aren’t prepared to sign on to the commonsense reforms I proposed in my charter, then they should expect to see that trend continue.

“The public can see the major parties are more interested in protecting their own skins than they are in improving the integrity of our national government.”

Australia’s integrity and transparency systems have been criticised for being too weak and for not covering large swathes of the in-house lobbyists attempts to influence policy on behalf of the world’s biggest corporations. The federal freedom of information regime is beset by delays, record rates of refusals, high costs and an underresourced regulator, critics say.

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Momentum for a federal integrity body has grown considerably in the past year. Bills have been introduced by the Greens, the Coalition and McGowan. The Coalition’s model would see a federal integrity commission established in 2020 and given $104.5m in funding over four years. The commission would not have the power to hold public hearings, would not be able to act on public tip-offs, and would not be able to investigate unless it began with evidence that met a high threshold.

If returned to the Senate in May, Storer said he would continue pushing for integrity reforms.

“The charter is the culmination of my efforts to make the political system more open, honest and accountable, and I will keep fighting for the reforms in it until they are realised,” he said.

“Ultimately, I’m sure they will be. As Martin Luther King Junior once said, ‘the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice’.”