Restoring trust and democracy

Vision: Decisions based on evidence – not influence.

Why are we here? Labor made a start on integrity by creating the National Anti-Corruption Commission. But they also worked with the Coalition to block real reform on the ‘soft corruption’ of donors and lobbyists. The last parliament showed that only independents are truly committed to cleaning up politics and restoring genuine democracy.

Kate’s action starts with supporting the Fair and Transparent Election Bill – legislation blocked by the two major parties.

Kate Lockhart, Independent for Corangamite, is advocating for:

Full disclosure of election funding

• Lower the donation disclosure threshold to $1,000 and require public disclosure within 7 days, before funds can be used.
• Cap individual donations at $1.5 million (2 per cent of total electoral spend) and ban untraceable donations such as cryptocurrency.
• Repeal parts of the 2025 Electoral Reform Act that unfairly benefit the major parties.

Transparency and controls on lobbying

• Create a public register of lobbyists that includes their donors and funding sources.
• Publish ministerial diaries and lobbying meeting logs.
• Launch a public inquiry into foreign influence in our political processes and elections.
• Enforce cooling-off periods for public officials entering the private sector, with criminal penalties (including pension forfeiture) for breaches.
• Apply the same gifts and benefits rules to politicians as to public servants.
• Enforce lobbying rules with real consequences – including bans and removal from office.

Combating misinformation and supporting public interest journalism

• Ban misleading political advertising, with accountability through an independent review body.
• Establish an Independent Journalism Fund to counter foreign and commercial media influence and support democratic scrutiny.
• Strengthen laws to regulate and reduce the spread of disinformation on social media platforms.
• Increase ABC funding to ensure access to high-quality public interest journalism.

Rebuilding the capacity and independence of the public service

• Reduce over-reliance on external consultants in government processes.
• Bring critical service delivery (such as the Job Network) back into public hands.

Protecting whistleblowers and improving transparency

• Strengthen protections for whistleblowers and criminalise harassment or retaliation.
• Extend whistleblower legislation to private companies working with government.
• Tighten Freedom of Information (FOI) laws and enforce penalties for non-compliance.
• Ban the use of encrypted messaging for government business to ensure transparency under FOI laws.
• Remove ‘commercial in confidence’ loopholes that limit public access to information.
• Create a public FOI dashboard showing all requests and time-to-response metrics.

Quotes from Kate Lockhart:

“There’s majority support for climate action and for banning gambling ads – yet nothing changes because wealthy vested interests silence the voices of ordinary Australians.”

“Money and lobbying make government less transparent and destroy public trust. They make it easier to spread disinformation and lie to the public.”

“If we don’t fix integrity in government, everything else becomes harder – from cost-of-living relief to climate action to affordable energy.”

“Sunlight is the best disinfectant. We need transparency in lobbying and serious reform to get big money out of politics.”

“Whistleblowers should be safe. Public information should be easy to access. The government must stop hiding behind red tape and start being open, honest, and accountable.”