He remains officially barred from the parliamentary Liberal Party after the corruption watchdog found he tried to evade political donations laws, but former police minister Mike Gallacher has been cut a break by the Baird government.

On Friday, with the support of government members, Mr Gallacher was elected chair of an upper house committee, delivering him an annual pay rise of $19,640 on top of his backbench salary of $157,000.

The promotion comes after Mr Gallacher last week delivered a speech lauding legislation introduced by Mike Baird that prompted the resignation of Independent Commission Against Corruption chief Megan Latham.

Mr Gallacher resigned as police minister and was one of 10 Liberal MPs banished to the crossbench in 2014 during Operation Spicer, ICAC's investigation of the party's fundraising rorts before the 2011 state election.