The Liberals and Labor in New South Wales have revealed previously undisclosed donations and altered their declarations following questions about failures to disclose funding to political campaigns.

Both parties have made a series of changes to their donation declarations in the past month. The NSW Liberal party lodged an amendment to the Australian Electoral Commission which disclosed funding of more than $60,000 from different companies.



The NSW Labor party made a similar late declaration of $43,000 from two companies.



The donations were declared by the parties after a Guardian Australia investigation in March found multiple donations had not been declared under Commonwealth electoral laws.



A $25,000 donation to the Labor party from Jefferson Investments was initially listed by the company as being to the federal party, but the New South Wales branch declared the donation the day after questions were raised over the disclosures by Guardian Australia.



Jefferson Investments also subsequently lodged an amendment changing the recipient of their donation to the New South Wales branch.



Another late declaration was made for $18,000 from PricewaterhouseCoopers.



The NSW branch of the Liberal party amended its declarations to add donations from Anthony Pratt, NIB, Australian Outback Tours, Varley Group, the Restaurant and Catering Industry Association and Thompson Health Care, totalling more than $60,000.



A spokeswoman for the NSW Liberals said: “The NSW division has over 500 party units – each fundraise and incur electoral expenditure. The division reports state and federal fundraising to the relevant authorities in accordance with the obligations of the state or federal law concerned.



“If an adjustment is required because the necessary information is not provided to the secretariat by the party unit concerned an update is provided to the relevant election authority in accordance with longstanding practice."



When Guardian Australia queried the Restaurant and Catering Industry Association donation in March, a Liberal party spokeswoman said: “It was an in-kind donation of catering for a fundraising event for which we did not have proper details at the time the disclosures were made. We have subsequently been able to obtain the correct information and this in-kind donation will be included on an amendment being lodged shortly.”



Electoral disclosure frameworks have come under sustained criticism following the Independent Commission Against Corruption’s investigation into hidden donations flowing to the New South Wales Liberal party.



The NSW police minister Mike Gallacher has resigned in relation to allegations by Icac of electoral funding irregularities.

Senior members of the Liberal party have called for the donation disclosure regime to be reformed.

