Shortly after being installed as Premier by his party room in April, Mike Baird declared his primary mission was to "clean up" NSW politics and restore the electorate's faith in its state representatives.

On Tuesday, he had the first real opportunity to show he meant what he said. Instead he fell well short of the expectations of a community that had had an absolute gutful of lying and cheating NSW politicians.

His first test came last week when the chief government whip, Andrew Cornwell, told the Independent Commission Against Corruption he had taken $10,000 from a property developer – a banned donor – and used it to pay his personal tax bill.

He also made the breathtaking admission he accepted $10,000 in an envelope from another developer in the front seat of the businessman's Bentley, money that was subsequently used in his Charlestown campaign.

The Premier's response? He refused to comment for several days.