NSW Premier Mike Baird has defended his new deputy, saying he's confident John Barilaro did not accept any illegal political donations.
The Labor opposition says it's obtained documents that show Mr Barilaro's wife Deanna made several donations to the NSW Nationals while she was a director of two property development companies.
The donations were made on separate occasions between 2014 and 2015, and are valued at $8810.
Property developers are prohibited from making political party donations in NSW.
But the Nationals say they reviewed the case before the 2015 state election and according to their determination, Mr Barilaro and his wife "were not considered property developers under the Expdenditure and Disclosures Act".
Mr Baird said he is satisfied with the party's assessment.
"Just because Labor says something doesn't make it true, and invariably it's not," he told reporters in Sydney on Thursday.
"The minister has made the appropriate declarations, the National party have responded specifically to the donation so there is no issue and I'm very comfortable with the position," he said.
The claims were made during question time on Wednesday, just 24 hours after Mr Barilaro was elected the new leader of the NSW Nationals.
The freshly minted deputy premier said the accusations were "typical of the grubby side of politics".
"If you put your hand up to lead a political party, your opponents will do and say whatever they can and they chose to say that under parliamentary privilege in the House -- otherwise what I call 'coward's castle'," Mr Barilaro told ABC radio on Thursday.
The Monaro MP was elected Nationals leader unopposed after predecessor Troy Grant fell on his sword and quit following the party's disastrous showing at the Orange by-election.
The results of the by-election, in which the Nationals suffered an unprecedented 34 per cent primary vote swing against them, are expected to be declared later on Thursday.
Share
