Here’s why. The construction and property development industry in NSW is worth about $25 billion each year. By way of example, last Wednesday’s Sydney Morning Herald listed 24 development-related notices of determination. There was also a notice of exhibition for a new development covering the size of more than two football fields in prime Sydney real estate. Thursday’s Herald advises of more than 140 development consents for the City of Sydney Council.

On a smaller scale, check your local paper this week for the dozens of duplexes, new commercial buildings and associated works that are being assessed by local councils. To assess the compliance and merits of this construction there is a small army of people across Australia who make thousands of these decisions every week. They are officials, planners and politicians in local councils and state and federal governments. These processes are essential for job, home and industry creation. But think about it; every year, thousands of decisions, right across the country, with differing degrees of oversight and constant changes to the legislative frameworks. It’s a situation ripe for exploitation.

It would be naive in the extreme to think that an industry in which profits can often be measured in millions doesn’t have shonks who want to take short cuts and people who could be tempted to help them. The two preconditions for corruption are motive and opportunity. Planning and approval systems, despite the best intentions of legislators, can only be corruption-resistant. There is no such thing as a corruption-proof system. Time after time the NSW public has had to endure investigations; Wollongong, Rockdale, Mudgee … the list goes on. Each time there is a corruption finding relating to development, public confidence in the system drops another notch.

Last week, the Independent Commission Against Corruption heard extraordinary claims of brown paper bags full of money being handed by property developers to election candidates in a Bentley. It’s not a C grade movie script. It’s a serious allegation made in the state’s watchdog body in a public hearing. It doesn’t take a genius to realise the deeply damaging nature of this image.

Recently, a developer has indicated he wishes to challenge my developer donation ban in the High Court. He may win, but political leaders should not wait for the outcome. They should say now that as a matter of party policy they will not be accepting donations from developers.