Sweeping reforms to NSW's flawed political donations regime will not be introduced before the next election.
A three-person expert panel was announced this week to work on the reforms, which could include publicly funded election campaigns and tougher penalties for breaching donation rules.
The move follows a slew of allegations in the state's corruption watchdog, the Independent Commission against Corruption, about banned donations from property developers.
The expert panel is due to report back by December 31 and Premier Mike Baird has confirmed that no key measures will be introduced before the March 2015 poll.
"We're not going to be able to resolve whether we can do fully funded election campaigns from the public purse before the election," Mr Baird told ABC radio on Thursday.
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The Premier said he expected some more minor donation and funding reforms to be introduced in the run-up to the election, including tighter disclosure rules.
But the key elements of the government's plans will not be in place before March.
Mr Baird defended his decision, saying he was not looking for a "quick political fix".
The government recognised public concern about the state's broken donation system and would put forward "workable" proposals, he said.
"You can't just put together a nice little spin package, a nice little media release, which has been the history from those opposite in this debate," he told reporters in Sydney.
"We want to do it properly. We make no apologies for taking time and considering all advice."
Mr Baird insisted the final package would fix the issue "forever".
He reaffirmed his support for a taxpayer-funded model for state election campaigns but conceded there could be constitutional challenges.
NSW opposition leader John Robertson believes the reforms should be in place before the next state election and has criticised the move to delay introducing changes.
