Photo: NSW Labor leader Luke Foley with his family at the 2016 conference inside Sydney's Town Hall. (ABC News: Sarah Gerathy )

NSW Labor conference: Party will publicly announce donations, Luke Foley pledges

By State Political Reporter Sarah Gerathy

14 Feb 2016,

State Opposition Luke Foley has announced that NSW Labor will become the first political party in Australia to publicly disclose donations as they come in.

The Labor leader made the promise during his first address to the party's annual state conference since taking the top job last year.

Mr Foley told the 850 delegates gathered at Sydney's Town Hall that it currently takes up to 17 months to find out who has made political donations and how much they've donated.

"Disclosure delayed is disclosure denied," Mr Foley said.

"I challenge Mr Baird and the Liberals to match our commitment."

Real-time donations disclosure was one of the recommendations of an expert panel headed by senior public servant Kerry Schott in the wake of donations scandals in NSW.

Mr Foley said he'd ask Acting General Secretary Kaila Murnain to have such a system in place by 2017.

The public, he said, would be able to log on to the system and see the details of donors and the amount of money they'd contributed within seven days of the donation being made.