Independent federal member for Curtin Kate Chaney, Greens Senator Larissa Waters, and independent ACT senator David Pocock are giving notice on Tuesday that they will be introducing the Fair and Transparent Elections Bill in their respective chambers, the House and Senate.

The bill, which will seek among other reforms a donor cap to prevent an individual from donating more than 2 per cent of the public funding paid for the last election or $1.5 million, is supported by the Greens and the Jacqui Lambie Network senators. It is understood co-sponsors for the bill also include Lidia Thorpe, Zoe Daniel, Andrew Gee, Helen Haines, Dai Le, Monique Ryan, Sophie Scamps, Allegra Spender, Zali Steggall, Kylea Tink and Andrew Wilkie.

The bill also bans donations from social harm industries and government contractors, proposes a real-time donation disclosure threshold of $1000, tightens political donation definitions, allows only taxpayer funds for election advertising, and moves on data harvesting by major parties in mailing out postal vote forms.

The crossbenchers are unhappy that Special Minister of State Don Farrell has indicated Labor's electoral reform is being put off until after the next election.

"We know that the Liberal party doesn't want reform on transparency, reducing financial influence or levelling the playing field," Ms Chaney said in a statement.

"It seems likely they will only be willing to do a deal with the government if that deal embeds the two-party system and makes it harder for new candidates to get elected."

This bill provides the government the opportunity to show it has listened and is interested in reforms that build trust, not changes that embed the two-party system.

A donor cap of $1.5 million would curtail the activities of mining billionaire Clive Palmer. His mining company Mineralogy donated more than $7 million to his United Australia Party in the last financial year, while he gave a nearly $117 million donation before the last election.

Atlassian chief executive Mike Cannon-Brookes gave $1.2 million to climate funding vehicle Climate 200.

The Greens say the big money must leave politics and the politicians behind the Fair and Transparent Elections bill show the bill could pass both houses of Parliament with government support.

"People are sick of democracy being for sale, and big donors calling the shots. This bill would stop the huge sums of money from dirty industries with a track record of trying to buy favourable policy outcomes," Greens senator Larissa Waters said.

It recommended the ACT and Northern Territory get an extra two senators each, while also pushing for an inquiry into possibly increasing the number of House seats to 200. It also recommended the introduction of donation and spending caps for elections, significantly lowering the donation disclosure threshold to $1000 and introducing laws banning false information in political ads.

The Canberra Times had reached out to Senator Farrell.

"The government is acting on the recommendations of the bipartisan joint standing committee on electoral matters, which considers all matters related to federal elections," a spokesperson for Senator Farrell said in a statement.

"All recommendations are being considered as the government introduces electoral reform legislation this year. It's clear that our system needs to be protected, including from billionaires who try to influence our elections."

There was no mention in the statement about timing for reform, but it is understood the Australian Electoral Commission needs to be given time to implement any new measure. There is also an aim for bipartisan support as some Coalition figures have talking about reform as a Labor "stitch-up" and extra representation being just a way to get more Labor senators elected.

Senator Pocock said there was frustration in Parliament after the 15-month post-election inquiry by the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters had strong recommendations for donation and political advertising reform as well as the new ACT senators.

"We live in a well-functioning democracy but we have seen this increasingly under threat and must act now to improve our democratic processes," Senator Pocock said in a statement.

"This bill puts forward sensible, best practice changes that have wide ranging support and will increase transparency and accountability of politicians and political parties during elections, ultimately strengthening our democracy."