Open & Honest Democracy

Integrity, accountability and transparency of governments, parliamentarians and civil servants are vital to a healthy democracy. Lack of transparency creates the potential for unethical or corrupt conduct and undermines public confidence in government decision-making and the whole political process.

Aims

The Greens (WA) want:

  • greater transparency in the way governments and politicians deliberate, make decisions and implement actions, so that the public can hold governments accountable
  • increased recognition of the role anti-democratic influences play in disrupting open and honest government processes
  • better mechanisms for scrutinising and addressing disrupting conduct
  • to restore public confidence that codes of conduct with regard to lobbying are respected and adhered to
  • increased and equal access to electoral processes

Measures

The Greens (WA) will initiate and support legislation and actions that:

Transparency in Government

  • create a rigorous and publicly available register of lobbyists that publishes their meetings with Government Ministers, or their proxies and protects and guarantees fair and equitable access to Government and other key decision makers for all stakeholders
  • require Ministerial diaries to be published within 3 business days of the end of the month, and include meetings where the Minister is represented by a Parliamentary Secretary or senior public servant.
  • prohibit politicians and senior staff from working as lobbyists, advisors or consultants for a for-profit enterprise after they leave parliament, for a period of five years for Government Ministers, their Chiefs of Staff and Directors-General, or equivalent, and three years for Shadow Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries.
  • prohibit lobbyists from becoming Ministerial staff for three years after their employment
  • ensures a lobbyist is defined as an agent of a non-political party that makes representations to a member or members of parliament for the apparent purpose of influencing government decision making
  • empower the Corruption and Crime Commission to investigate potential breaches of ministerial standards and a lobbying code of conduct
  • strengthen the protection of whistleblowers through legislation
  • support ‘shield laws’1 to ensure that, save in exceptional cases, a journalist cannot be required to reveal their sources
  • improve public access to government information and to court proceedings and reports
  • fund the Office of the Auditor-General to enable it to more regularly publically scrutinise Government advertising and market research to ensure that it is not being used for party-political purposes
  • ensure that any State Government subsidy, including those provided through reduced charges, Government funding or assistance packages, to any corporation, business, government-owned entity or NGO, is fully disclosed

Democratic Elections & Donations Transparency

  • increase public funding for elections, which is fairly accessible to political parties and independents 
  • impose caps on election-related expenditure by political parties, candidates and third parties
  • require all political parties to publicly provide real time release of all donations over $1 000, including the name of the donor
  • legislate truth in political advertising laws, governed by an independent agency separate to the Western Australian Electoral Commission
  • ban donations from for profit companies
  • ban cash-for-access to Minister, Shadow Ministers, Parliamentary Secretaries and Party Spokespeople
  • allow 16 and 17 year olds to be eligible to vote, without penalties for not voting
  • allow all incarcerated people, irrespective of sentence length, to be eligible to vote
  • allow permanent residents to be eligible to vote, without penalties for not voting
  • the simplification of electoral enrollment, including same-day enrollment at a polling place
  • reduce the deposit required to stand for election to Parliament to remove financial barriers to democratic participation
  • require Australian territories serviced by the state of Western Australia, such as Christmas Island, to be included in state electoral boundaries

Effective Parliament

  • make the provision of electorate offices and staffing entitlements for politicians the remit of the Salaries and Allowance Tribunal, along with its current responsibilities in politician salaries and allowances. The tribunal would seek submissions from political parties, unions and the public for comment on staffing levels
  • ensure that the formal decisions of cabinet and its sub-committees are made available to the public within a reasonable time
  • ensure that the Legislative Council’s committee system is adequately funded, in recognition of the important role of the Council as the House of Review
  • ensure electorate and research officers are entitled to full workplace entitlements and protections as public sector workers

(See also the Australian Greens Constitutional Reform and Democracy policy)

Glossary

  1. Shield laws – offer protection to journalists from having to reveal their sources during legal hearings.  Journalists may be compelled to reveal sources if they are questioned before a Parliamentary hearing

Open & Honest Government policy ratified by The Greens (WA) in 2024