The Barry O'Farrell-led Coalition was elected on a platform of restoring trust in government and ending "16 years of scandal and incompetence" – a phrase repeated like a mantra in the run-up to polling day in 2011.

Three years later, the Coalition's claim to the moral high ground was shaken when a corruption inquiry heard allegations that Liberal candidates took illegal donations from property developers during the election campaign.

The allegations – and, in some cases, admissions – that dirty money flowed to a group of Hunter Valley and Central Coast Liberal candidates ordinarily would be a gift to the Labor opposition.

Envelopes of cash handed over in luxury cars, "sham" companies issuing fake invoices and dubious artwork sales were just some of the made-for-election-leaflet claims aired at the commission.

But Labor's hands are far from clean. The Independent Commission Against Corruption's inquiries into former Labor powerbroker Eddie Obeid and his political ally Ian Macdonald, which started in late 2012, exposed a disturbing culture of decisions for mates.

The commission found Obeid and his family raked in at least $30 million from his extracurricular activities while he was warming the red leather seats in the NSW upper house.

If neither side of politics can afford to make political mileage out of their rivals' very public floggings at the ICAC, both are grappling with the issue of how to win back voters' trust before the March 28 poll.

David Burchell, a senior lecturer in politics at the University of Western Sydney, said "maverick" and "wildcard" parties stood to benefit when trust in the major parties eroded.

Clive Palmer's Palmer United Party missed the deadline last year to register for the state election. But there are five new parties among the 19 parties registered to contest in NSW that could pick up spots in the upper house, including Philip Nitschke's Voluntary Euthanasia Party, the No Land Tax Campaign and the Australian Motorists Party.

Fred Nile's Christian Democratic Party is also fielding a number of candidates for lower house seats and a number of independent candidates are in the race.

Dr Burchell said voters were now "less rusted-on to political parties" and "much more inclined to throw parties out after one term".

He said both sides of politics needed to deal with the "long-running story in NSW": the ability of property developers to influence governments and the opposition. One step was to ensure MPs were kept "much further away" from political donations and to clarify the rules about donations.

Liberal and Labor strategists expect the "ICAC issue" won't be raised in general during the election campaign, although it may get some traction on the Central Coast and the Hunter Valley, where Liberal MPs were felled en masse during the ICAC inquiry.

Eight Liberal MPs, including former energy minister Chris Hartcher and his Central Coast proteges Chris Spence and Darren Webber, will not recontest their seats. One, Swansea MP Garry Edwards, will run as an independent.

ICAC will release its reports on both inquiries later in the year.

WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY

Simon Longstaff, executive director of the St James Ethics Centre

Simon Longstaff saw an "eerie kind of similarity in history" when the ICAC heard Liberal candidates took envelopes of cash from developers.

"You can go back to the days of Sir Robert Askin, who was infamous as a Liberal Party premier," said Dr Longstaff.

"People used to joke about the brown paper bags."

Dr Longstaff said both parties had damaged the standing of the Parliament. People could make up for a "deficit in trust" by imposing other costs of interaction, such as setting up anti-corruption commissions, but this would only work in the short term.

"If you go beyond just simply putting at risk trust, what you can actually start to do is damage the legitimacy of an institution," he said.

"We are perilously close to the point where people looking at politics in NSW are going to say, this whole system has lost its legitimacy."

The Herald and the Ethics Centre have asked candidates to sign up to the Politicians' Pledge, which is aimed at establising a "common ethical base". The pledge says the practice of politics is intended to be a "noble calling" and commits MPs to acting in the public interest.

Grahame Morris, Liberal Party strategist

"The whole ICAC smell has now tainted both sides," said Grahame Morris, federal director of Liberal-aligned lobbying firm Barton Deakin.

Mr Morris, who was a chief of staff to former prime minister John Howard, said the corruption hearings were until recently "a big positive for the Coalition" as the "grubbiness really tarnished the Labor Party and hurt their vote badly".

The appearance of Liberal MPs at the ICAC's political donations inquiry had "neutralised" the issue, he said.

Mr Morris said he would be surprised if the "ICAC issue got raised much [during the election campaign] because it's two-edged".

The Labor Party would still be inclined to "treat ICAC as a four-letter word". He added the ALP could "pour a bit of perfume onto the smelly dung heap but they're probably an election or two away from getting rid of the stench".

Bruce Hawker, Labor Party strategist

The Labor Party would have been in a "world of pain over the issue of trust had it not been for Chris Hartcher and a number of other Liberal MPs", Bruce Hawker said.

Mr Hawker, who was a chief of staff to former NSW premier Bob Carr and the co-founder of Labor-aligned lobbying firm Hawker Britton, said he "would not have dreamed of saying that a year and a half ago when we were reeling from the Eddie Obeid revelations".

"It's a rather unpleasant reality in a way, in that it says that you're both as bad as each other," the managing director of Campaigns and Communications said.

But he said that reality would "allow both leaders then to campaign on their strength", and Premier Mike Baird and Opposition Leader Luke Foley shared an "anti-politician, everyman quality".

2015 NSW election: Policy reckoner

<a href="http://smh.com.au/interactive/2015/nsw-election/policy-reckoner/app.html" _rte_href="http://smh.com.au/interactive/2015/nsw-election/policy-reckoner/app.html">2015 NSW state elections - policy reckoner</a>