A fed-up punter is holding his own lobbying dinner for politicians as big businesses and corporate interests spend tens of thousands of dollars to sit with ministers.
Punters Politics podcast host Konrad Benjamin hopes to raise $75,000 at his event with independent politicians in Canberra on Tuesday, to employ "Australia's first punters' lobbyist".
He is protesting against businesses and special interest groups spending big on tickets to dinners for access to the prime minister and top ministers.
Both major parties have fundraising vehicles that large corporations pay to be a part of, but four in five people agree it gives them unfair political influence, according to YouGov polling commissioned by the Australia Institute.
MPs should refuse to take part in these events especially when someone paying for access has a vested interest in government policy, almost four in five of the 1500 survey respondents agreed.
About a third of people thought cash-for-access was corrupt, while a quarter said they were unsure.
"Some of them in this place, they call it business as usual, they call it politics, but most Aussie punters know what it is and we call it corrupt. We don't like it," Mr Benjamin said at Parliament House in Canberra.
Independent MP Helen Haines, who is pushing for lobbying reform and more transparency around who have access to MPs at parliament, said Australians deserve the same access to politicians as major donors.
Independent senator David Pocock said government decisions needed to be made for the public good and not corporate interests.
"This is something that we have to continue to push the major parties on to ensure that there are more voices, that it doesn't matter how much money you have in the bank, you can still have your voice heard in our democracy," he said.
"This is the people's house and we should be making decisions that are good for Australia and not just people who can pay to sit at a table with the minister or prime minister."
Senator Pocock has launched his own voluntary register where MPs can disclose who they sponsor for a lobbying pass, which allows unfettered access to the private areas of Parliament House.
Only crossbenchers and a One Nation senator voluntarily disclosed who they sponsored.
