Greens leader Richard Di Natale has been called many things.
Independent commentator is not one of them.
But as the leader of a party that sits outside the main game of players vying for government, he believes scare campaigns like that mounted by Labor over Medicare privatisation aren't necessary.
"The truth is scary enough," Senator Di Natale says.
The senator believes Labor's attempt to convince voters the coalition will privatise Medicare - despite Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull categorically ruling it out - is a distraction.
The real issues are a planned freeze to Medicare rebates and cuts to hospital funding.
"But of course Labor doesn't want to start there because they have form in those areas," Senator Di Natale told the National Press Club in Canberra on Thursday.
It's just one of the "steady staple" of scare campaigns and unimaginative policies being sprayed by the major parties during the election campaign, he says.
People are bored and tuning out.
"There's been a lack of courage, imagination and vision."
Senator Di Natale wants more independent political parties - rid of vested interests pushed by the lobbyists who "prowl the halls" of Parliament House.
"Australians are over it," he said.
"When wealth and power are concentrated in the hands of a few, and they wield that power for their own narrow interests, democracy cannot flourish."
The Greens leader used much of his address to press the need for a reinvigorated, improved Australian democracy.
He believes his party is the "political ideas boom" out to break the duopoly of the coalition and Labor and transform parliament into chambers of negotiation.
He'd rather the Australian parliament ran on a system like New Zealand's proportional representation, where parties gain seats based on the number of votes rather than winning electorates.
And he wants to tighten political donation laws.
The call comes as new research from the Australia Institute shows almost two-thirds of voting-aged people did not vote for the government at the last election, with a growing number of people not enrolling.
In other words, when a government flaunted its mandate, the majority of Australians did not approve it.
"The Greens are demonstrating that politics does not have to be a two-horse race," Senator Di Natale said.
He reckons the trend away from major parties shows no signs of stopping and makes multi-party governments more likely.
Despite a threat from popular independent Senator Nick Xenophon to Greens seats in South Australia, Senator Di Natale insists more voices in parliament is desirable.
His party helped the government push through changes to the Senate voting system, which scrapped group voting tickets and left it up to the voter to preference parties.
Critics, including Labor, lashed out - predicting fewer or no independent and minor party senators on the chamber's crossbench in future parliaments.
"I wonder whether they'd like to hear some of those speeches read back at them after July 2, because they'd make for embarrassing reading."
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