Cory Bernardi: open database to the public to help restore faith in politics | World news | theguardian.com

"Australians should gain access to a vast database containing details about government spending in a bid to discourage cronyism and restore public faith in politics, the Liberal senator Cory Bernardi will argue in a speech on Thursday. In a lunchtime address to the National Press Club in Canberra, Bernardi will suggest the open data push as one transparency measure to help address growing voter disillusion with major party politics. Stressing the need to learn from the rise of anti-establishment political movements across the western world, Bernardi will also take aim at the motivations of some of his parliamentary colleagues. The Liberal backbencher will criticise the 'professional class of career politicians' who are 'more inclined to have an eye on their future than that of the nation'. The domestic context for the speech is the rise of the popularity of independents and minor and micro-parties, culminating in the election of 18 crossbench members to the Senate including the Palmer United party (PUP) and the Greens. Bernardi will argue Australian voters’ disillusion with politics and the two major parties is part of a global phenomenon, with anti-establishment politics gaining ground in continental Europe, the UK and the US. Bernardi argues voters are looking for anti-establishment alternatives because they have lost faith in the words, actions and deeds of their political representatives ..."