Tasmania’s Independent Tradition and Integrity Reforms: A Conversation with Meg Webb MLC

Host Michael Barker interviews Meg Webb MLC, independent member for Nelson in Tasmania’s Legislative Council, about her path from 20 years in community services and social policy advocacy into parliament after winning the open Nelson seat in 2019 and being re-elected in 2025. Webb discusses why Tasmania has strong independent representation, especially in the 200-year-old upper house, citing single-member electorates, rolling elections separate from lower house contests, and strict spending caps, alongside Hare-Clark proportional representation in the lower house. She outlines her campaign priorities—integrity, governance, gender equity, environment, and poker machine reform—and details work on integrity architecture including ministerial diary disclosure, right-to-information reform, and an exposure-draft Political Lobbying Integrity and Transparency Bill. Webb also describes creating Parliamentary Friends of Public Integrity to build cross-parliament culture and networks, and warns of growing poker-machine losses and ineffective harm-minimisation measures.

00:00 Introduction

01:09 Meg's Path into Politics

09:26 Tasmania's Independent-Friendly Upper House

16:08 Party Influence, Donations & Public Funding

19:33 Relational Influence & Gray Corruption Risks

22:36 Parliamentary Friends of Public Integrity

28:18 Ministerial Diary Disclosure

33:17 Lobbying Reform Bill

38:07 The Role of the Media

40:27 Right to Information Reform

44:34 What's Next & Poker Machine Reform