NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell today said the NSW Government remains determined to clean up the political donations culture in NSW following a decision by the High Court to strike down changes to the State’s electoral funding laws.

“I am disappointed with today’s decision but we remain determined to deliver the people of NSW a fair and transparent electoral funding system to restore trust in the political process in this State,” Mr O’Farrell said.

“We will not be put off in trying to stamp out corruption and Labor’s rotten ‘decisions for donations’ culture.

“We won’t be deterred from taking action to clean up this State by people seeking to use the courts to try and thwart the intent of Parliament – whether they’re outlaw motorcycle gangs or Labor and its union mates.

“The NSW Government will take the High Court’s decision into account when we re-draft the State’s electoral acts in response to this year’s report of the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters.

“The basic principle of our changes was to ensure only those entitled to vote in an election could donate to a political party or candidate.

“Corporations, unions and other third-party organisations are not entitled to a vote and shouldn’t be allowed to influence the system.

“Part of the decision today is that affiliated unions to the Labor Party can have their own expenditure cap.

“That in effect means entities that decide Labor Party policy and candidates can ‘double dip’ and be treated the same as truly independent organisations like the RSPCA and Red Cross.

“It is a nonsense – we will revisit this issue because I don’t intend to allow Labor or their union mates to recreate the conditions that allowed the sort of corruption people witnessed under NSW Labor.”