The NSW government has pounced on an investigation into a series of political donations made to the NSW branch of the Australian Labor Party.
Staff from the Independent Commission Against Corruption raided the party's Sydney CBD headquarters on Sussex Street on Tuesday.
The raids came as Labor heavyweights attended the ALP's annual conference in Adelaide.
The donations in question were made in 2015 and NSW Labor said it was co-operating fully with the ICAC to supply all relevant documents.
The donations reportedly relate to an annual Chinese Friends of Labor fundraising event.
NSW cabinet minister Anthony Roberts said Labor needed to "come clean" about the donations, labelling the matter "concerning".
"There seems to be a culture in NSW Labor where there is foreign interference right to the very core of their party," he told reporters on Wednesday.
"The fact that these raids have occurred so close to an election I think signifies their concern possibly over allegations or claims of what appears to be foreign interference and potential corruption."
Former federal Labor senator Sam Dastyari, who last year resigned over a scandal involving his links to Chinese business figures, has distanced himself from the investigation.
"I want to thank the newspapers for keeping me relevant," he tweeted on Wednesday.
"Even if it's about a raid I know nothing about. Regarding some fundraiser I wasn't at. About an office I had left years earlier (Labor) by a state authority that has nothing to do with me."
