The Human Rights Law Centre, the Australian Conservation Foundation and the Australian Democracy Network are the founding members of the campaign, which is formally endorsed by 17 other organisations.

“Twenty civil society groups have come together to support this vision for a fair democracy because they know making #OurDemocracy the best it can be, is good for their work, their members and all Australians,” Australian Democracy Network director Saffron Zomer said of the campaign.

“[The campaign] will be building public support over the coming months until our elected representatives see the opportunity to pass these sensible reforms.”

The campaign will aim to “stamp out” corruption and corporate influence within politics and Human Rights Law Centre senior lawyer Alice Drury argued that presently, Australia’s democratic system isn’t working as it should be.

“Our democracy works best when the government puts the best interests of people, our communities and our planet at the heart of every decision,” she said.

“But right now, that isn’t happening and harmful industries like gambling and fossil fuels are skewing our democratic processes to win political outcomes that put their profits ahead of our wellbeing. The people who are suffering the most from the status quo are already disadvantaged – the families torn apart by gambling addiction, and the communities who lost entire towns in unprecedented bushfires fuelled by climate change.”

The proposed law reform in the Framework for a Fair Democracy that the group is rallying behind includes a code of conduct for politicians: making lobbying and political donations transparent, banning big, corrupting political donations altogether and stopping outgoing ministers from taking up jobs in the industries they once regulated. 

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“The #OurDemocracy campaign is about resetting the rules of politics to make it fairer, more open, and more accountable to all of us,” Ms Drury said.