Whatever differences we may have over various political issues, the one thing that unites us all is our dislike of corruption and rorts in politics.
That is, it unites everyone except our current crop of politicians, who are not particularly interested in stamping it out.
If elected, one of my highest priorities will be to get rid of the rorting that has infected Canberra at the expense of the needs of our communities.
As you have all been getting spam text and emails from politicians, one topical example is the harvesting of voter data.
For example, there is a cosy arrangement where Liberal MPs use taxpayer money to pay a company owned by the Liberal Party (Parakeelia) to help collect data about you and then use that data to send you spam texts and emails.
This was first widely reported in 2016, is not denied by the Liberals, and has been found not to breach any rules.
The system of political donations also encourages unethical behaviour.
The worst example is probably when mining magnate Gina Rinehart handed Barnaby Joyce a cheque for $40,000 at the 2017 National Agriculture Day awards, for ‘services to agriculture’.
It was an act so brazen it was hard to tell whether it was some kind of weird joke. Unfortunately not.
Barnaby was forced to hand it back, but we have now reached the point where billionaires can publicly present cheques to politicians they are close friends with, and the public is no longer shocked or surprised.
Through its connections to the union movement, Labor is no better.
Despite recent encouraging words, the party is also reluctant to make meaningful change in this area.
I want to end this sort of behaviour in Canberra.
We deserve better than politicians putting the interests of party donors ahead of our communities.
Let’s bring honesty and integrity back to politics.
If elected, I will work hard to help establish a national integrity commission to stamp out the rorts and corruption.
It’s time for change.
Rob Priestly is an independent candidate for the federal seat of Nicholls