Some parliamentarians are voluntarily disclosing who they have sponsored to access Parliament House in a bid for transparency in an area where Labor is lagging.
Independent senator David Pocock has been pushing for lobbying regulations that would mandate parliamentarians publicly disclose who they give access passes to.
MPs can sponsor passes to parliament, which has raised transparency concerns over a lack of information on who has access to which ministers.
Privacy arrangements prevent the disclosure of who has been sponsored by a parliamentarians, which grants them access to private areas at Parliament House.
Senator Pocock said independent MPs Allegra Spender and Sophie Scamps had emailed a list of passholders they sponsor to be put on a public register website he's launching in October.
The ACT senator, who already lists those he has given access, has written to all parliamentarians encouraging them to participate.
"The laws are so loose it's a free-for-all in this place," he told reporters in Parliament House on Thursday, adding that thousands of lobbyists accessing the halls of power were drowning out public voices.
"We have no idea who they are, who gave them that pass, what they're in here lobbying for.
"It's indefensible not to say to Australians, you elected me and this is who I'm giving access to."
There is a public register but not everyone who seeks to influence a politician needs to list themselves, such as in-house lobbyists who work for a particular company.
"Australians, when I speak to them, are horrified that the government relations teams at Qantas, Woodside Santos, they're not lobbyists," Senator Pocock said.
The independent senator has introduced a private member's bill to legislate a code of conduct, expand the definition of a lobbyist who has access to MPs and have a three-year cooling-off period before ministers and senior staff can lobby.
The bill would also force reports to be published about how often people meet with decision-makers, including through the disclosure of ministerial diaries, which are routine in other jurisdictions like NSW, Victoria and the ACT.
The government doesn't support Senator Pocock's bill, with Labor senator Lisa Darmanin pointing to areas where reforms had been introduced, including a code of conduct and further disclosure requirements.
Senator Darmanin said the balance had been struck with the current code, which doesn't capture in-house lobbyists, as she defended the government's track record during debate in the upper house on Thursday.
Ministers cannot lobby on matters they covered for 18 months after leaving office and were subject to a separate ministerial code which added extra probity measures, she added.
Senator Pocock chastised Labor for listing laundry lists of previous actions when asked how they would address a specific issue.
"I think it's wearing pretty thin," he said.
