Political donation reform has been placed back on the agenda after a state Labor government failed to progress its own proposed changes.
Western Australia's government introduced legislation under then-premier Mark McGowan in 2020 requiring greater disclosure of donations and banning foreign donors from making contributions to political parties.
But the government failed to pass the bill before the 2021 election and has not introduced fresh legislation since, despite controlling both houses of parliament.
Greens upper house MP Brad Pettitt on Thursday sought to force the issue, introducing a private member's bill virtually identical to Labor's original legislation.
It would require all donations to political parties of more than $1000 to be declared, down from the previous threshold of $2500.
The bill would also close a loophole that allowed parties to shield donations by instead registering them under the federal system, which features a considerably more generous disclosure threshold of $14,000.
Mr Pettitt highlighted a 2020 speech in which the then-electoral affairs minister Stephen Dawson said electors deserved to know "those with the deepest pockets ... (could not) spend their way to influence an election".
"After six years in government, (these reforms) still have not been realised," Mr Pettitt told the chamber.
"This bill is the bare minimum and one that I'll move amendments to improve.
"The ball is now in the government's court to make good on their promises to voters."
But Labor parliamentary secretary Matthew Swinbourn said the government would progress its own reforms before the 2025 election.
"We won't be supporting the bill because we will be introducing our own bill in good time," he said.
"If others were in charge of the legislative priorities, they would do it differently ... we make our own decisions."
Mr Pettitt also flagged amendments that would force ministers to make their diaries public and prevent donors from paying to access ministers at events.
He said there should be a mandatory cooling-off period of at least three years for ministers and senior advisers before they could be employed in industries "where they were responsible for regulating in some way".
This would prevent senior ministers or premiers from accepting a job with a resources company during that period, he said.
The suggestion was met with derision by Labor MPs who interjected saying politicians still had to pay their bills when they left parliament.
Former treasurer Ben Wyatt notably joined the boards of Rio Tinto and Woodside months after leaving politics in 2021, becoming the first Indigenous Australian to serve as a director of either major company.
