Ms LEE RHIANNON [11.45 p.m.]: The major political parties have been promising to back reform of the electoral funding system in New South Wales for the past two years. Two bills were passed in 2008 with the stated aim of improving transparency. The main achievement was six-monthly disclosure periods. Clearly there is a lot more to do. I will set out two areas where reforms are needed urgently. In 2008 in-kind donations over $1,000 were banned for office space, vehicles, computers or other equipment. While this rule covering office accommodation is good, it is difficult to monitor. Candidates are not required to indicate on their returns the amount of money they spend on campaign offices, so finding violations of this ban is a hit-and-miss affair.

Evidence has come to light that City of Sydney Councillor Shayne Mallard had a campaign office during the 2008 local government election for which he did not pay rent. We have invoices of the Sydney Liberal campaign for tens of thousands of dollars in campaign expenses that were sent either to Andrew Kirk at 505/80 William Street, East Sydney, or to Sydney Liberals at 505/80 William Street. Andrew Kirk was the campaign manager for Mr Mallard's campaign for Lord Mayor of Sydney and for the Liberal team running for Sydney council. Some campaign material was also delivered to the office on William Street.

There are two organisations in suite 505, which is located in a large set of offices rented by Michael Yabsley—Matrix Corporation Marketing founded by Mr Yabsley and now owned by Jason Collins, and the European Australia Business Council. Mr Mallard is currently employed by Matrix, as he was throughout the 2008 campaign. The receptionist at Matrix told a caller recently that she does not know Kirk. When Kirk submitted his invoice for $13,200 to the Sydney Liberals for his work as campaign director of the Sydney Liberal Party campaign, his address was a unit in Redfern. Officials at the New South Wales Election Funding Authority clearly have a role to play. The evidence about Mr Mallard's possible free campaign office is serious enough to be investigated as he may have broken the law. I urge the New South Wales Election Funding Authority to investigate this matter.

The second problem I will address is even more serious. As I have written in articles with Dr Norman Thompson, the Liberal Party has laundered all donations to individual Liberal State and local government candidates and campaigns through the party's head office in recent years. One consequence of this is that Liberal councillors can vote on development applications submitted by a major donor to their campaigns without the public knowing that these councillors have broken their council's code of conduct regarding donations disclosure. We now have evidence that suggests that Liberal councillors on Hawkesbury council did just that. The large property developer from Newcastle, Buildev, formed a new company to develop a large tract of land in North Richmond. Buildev Development (MR) Pty Ltd submitted a development application for a seniors housing-aged care facility, with plans for a further development of more than 2,000 homes in the area.

In spite of huge opposition from the community, the five Liberal councillors on Hawkesbury council voted to approve the development on 15 September 2009. In addition, they voted to defeat a rescission motion on 29 September 2009 on this development. On each occasion the vote was five to five, with the Liberal mayor casting the deciding vote. All Liberal candidates submitted nil returns to the New South Wales Election Funding Authority, saying they received no donations, did not use any of their funds for campaign purposes and had no electoral expenditure. Yet there is evidence that they spent more than $20,000 on their 2008 campaign. Although Buildev typically gives 62 per cent of its donations to Labor and only 38 per cent to the Liberals, the North Richmond company, Buildev Development (MR), has given only to the Liberal Party and not to Labor.

The Liberal Party received considerable money from Buildev (MR) before the 2009 local government election campaign, totalling at least $130,500. The company contributed another $23,500 to the Liberal Party on 4 July 2008 but the Liberal Party of New South Wales did not report it to the New South Wales Election Funding Authority. To which section of the Liberal Party did this large donation of $23,000 go? We know from our research that local Liberal campaigns often forget to pass on their donation information to head office. Did this money go to the Hawkesbury Liberals or to the local council? It is quite possible. The Government must act to ensure these abuses stop.

The issue of the Mallard campaign office should be thoroughly investigated by the Election Funding Authority. In the Hawkesbury council matter the Liberal Party should open its books so we can see the source of all donations to local campaigns currently being laundered through its head office. Right now we are not confident that the Liberals will open up their books or stop funnelling donations. That is why we need far-reaching electoral funding reform. [Time expired.]