MINISTERS' shareholdings and their employment after leaving office will be restricted under new transparency measures imposed by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
Mr Rudd released his ministerial code of conduct today after holding his first Cabinet meeting in Brisbane.
The code places a 12-month ban on departing ministers having business dealings with MPs, public servants or defense personnel on any matter they dealt with in their official capacity during their last 18 months in office.
Although not enshrined in law, departing ministers will have to undertake not to take advantage of their previous position as a minister.
Ministers will be banned from owning shares unless they are held in superannuation funds, publicly-listed funds or in a trust where the minister has no influence over investment decisions.
Any minister who breaks the rules could lose their job.
Under former prime minister John Howard's code of conduct, ministers were simply required to sell shares in companies that came under their area of portfolio responsibility.
Failure to properly declare shareholdings cost then ageing minister Santo Santoro his job in March this year.
A strong critic of ministerial standards during the Howard years, Mr Rudd said the new measures were designed to increase accountability and transparency.
"The Australian people are entitled to expect the highest standards of behaviour from their elected representatives in general and ministers in particular," he said in the foreword to the code.
The new code is also set to curb influence-peddling by political lobby groups.
Lobbyists will be forced to disclose their details on an online public register, kept by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, before seeking meetings with ministers or parliamentary secretaries.
This requirement, which already exists in countries like Canada, is a win for Australian Democrats senator Andrew Murray and Greens leader Bob Brown, who have been pushing for the change for some time.
The list of lobbyists will be updated every six months.
Electoral fundraising at The Lodge and Kirribilli House – the two official prime ministerial residences – will also be banned.
Opposition health spokesman Joe Hockey said state Labor Governments had a poor record on accountability, as they had spent millions of taxpayer dollars on advertisements opposing federal Government initiatives.
"Mr Rudd has said there's going to be greater ministerial accountability than the previous Government, there's going to be independent audits and independent assessment of the worthiness of advertising campaigns," Mr Hockey said to ABC radio.
"We are going to keep Mr Rudd to the letter of every policy he has made."
Today's ministerial meeting also signaled the start of Labor's "education revolution", with Cabinet approving Mr Rudd's $1 billion fund to give every student in years nine to 12 access to their own computer.
From March, high schools will apply for up to $1 million to buy computers, digital projectors, interactive whiteboards and other equipment.
"This fund will connect Australia's students, teachers and schools to the global digital economy, and help prepare them for the future," Mr Rudd said.
"World class ICT (information and computer technology) in schools will make a real and sustainable change in the way teaching and learning are delivered in classrooms across Australia."
He said the Government would conduct an audit of computer resources and broadband access in schools and work with the schools sector to roll out its education technology program, giving top priority to schools in greatest need.
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