Hollie Hughes, the Liberal party official who first rang alarm bells over the use of slush funds and illegal donations, could enter Parliament after being preselected for the NSW Liberals upper house ticket.
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Former City of Sydney councillor Shayne Mallard, lobbyist Scott Farlow and Ms Hughes were preselected for the upper house positions on Saturday.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption heard that Ms Hughes questioned claims by the campaign manager for Wyong Liberal MP Darren Webber that she had raised $100,000 for the 2011 election, when official receipts showed $12,000 was raised.
Ms Hughes investigated the notorious slush fund Eight By Five, and urged the whistleblower Matthew Lusted to take his paperwork to Liberal Senator Bill Heffernan, who then informed ICAC.
Meanwhile, Wollongong MP Noreen Hay has been re-endorsed as the Labor candidate for the 2015 state election.
Ms Hay beat challenger Paul Scully, a Wollongong academic, in a bitter contest that had seen claims of branch-stacking levelled against Ms Hay's supporters.
Mr Scully had questioned the legitimacy of six members, alleged to live outside the electorate.
However, Ms Hay won twice the primary vote of Mr Scully in Saturday's branch preselection. Ms Hay won 80 votes to Mr Scully's 35. She has been the member for Wollongong since 2003.
Labor's NSW general secretary Jamie Clements said: "I would urge everyone down there to accept the result and get behind Noreen's campaign."
Ms Hay said she was "humbled" by the support of the "local rank and file". "I'm a grassroots MP," she said.
