An independent politician sick and tired of delays in establishing a federal integrity commission is trying to force the government's hand.
Helen Haines plans to introduce a bill on Monday to set up a national anti-corruption watchdog.
Labor and the crossbench support her model but she is still two votes short.
Two government members would need to cross the floor for her bill to be debated.
"I don't have allegiance to the government or the opposition and I'm really well placed to negotiate with people right across the floor," Ms Haines told ABC radio.
"No politics, straight up policy, let's debate it."
Scott Morrison claims he has been too busy responding to the coronavirus pandemic to establish a federal integrity commission.
Ms Haines does not accept the prime minister's excuse.
She said the government had proven it was capable of multi-tasking throughout the pandemic, had promised the corruption body at the last election, and had prepared draft legislation long before coronavirus hit.
"It is overdue, we need one, there is one in every state and territory, and we absolutely need one at a federal level," Ms Haines said.
The first-term MP from Wangaratta in country Victoria refused to speculate about the delay.
"What I do know is that the Australian public are just screaming for a federal integrity commission," she said.
"Voters know it and plenty of MPs know it too, and the longer we go on without a federal integrity commission, the more our democracy is tarnished, and indeed the more the reputations of parliamentarians are tarnished."
The government's model would not hold public hearings and only senior bureaucrats could make referrals.
The alleged corruption would need to be criminal, a high legal bar that would exclude many types of wrongdoing.
"It would be totally ineffective - that model is far too weak," Ms Haines said.
She is concerned the model would not capture the sports rorts affair, Leppington Triangle land purchase scandal, or doctored documents relating to the travel expenses of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore.
"The things that really disturb the public and make them lose trust in us, it would not address those issues," Ms Haines said.
The government is keen to avoid establishing a "star chamber" similar to some state models, where public figures have their reputations tarnished long before being found guilty or innocent.
Ms Haines said her model would protect private reputations until it was obvious public hearings needed to take place.
The government has also indicated it does not want the federal integrity commission to have retrospective reach.
Ms Haines said her model would not apply contemporary rules to past behaviour if they were not in force at the time.
"But that does not preclude retrospectivity. Not at all, it's crucial that we have it," she said.
"Any integrity commission without retrospectivity is not going to uncover systemic corruption and it's not going to teach us any lessons.
"We need to learn from the past, we need to investigate thoroughly."
Australian Associated Press
