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A Sydney University academic has given the NSW government political cover to back away from a pledge to reform the state’s system of political donations.
Premier Nathan Rees has however promised that he will continue to discuss the donation reform issue in the state’s key public policy forum: a $1000-a-plate ALP dinner.
The summit will bring together some of the state’s top minds to collaborate in writing legislation and cheques.
Plans for the premier to explain his decision on television were shelved after he indicated that the only show he’d appear on was a telethon.
With increased demand for housing and state and local politicians enjoying significant discretion to approve or reject development applications, millions of dollars in donations from developers have flowed to the state ALP branch. Planning officials were then pressured to green-light a Scrooge McDuck-style money bin that did not conform to the local environment plan.
Explaining the backflip, Mr Rees told The Sydney Morning Herald that he wasn’t bound to keep the promises his party made earlier in the year. He then briefly denied he was a member of the ALP and also claimed to forget which state he was in charge of.
