The surprise announcement today by the NSW Premier, Mr Barry O'Farrell, that he will resign after misleading the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) with his testimony yesterday shows a flawed political system has a silver lining, according to a Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic.

Associate Professor Dominic O'Sullivan, lecturer and researcher in political science at the CSU School of Humanities and Social Sciences in Bathurst, said, "Mr O'Farrell's intention to resign as Premier is significant because until now the Liberal Party has been reasonably successful at distancing itself from the corruption that helped to bring down the former Labor government in NSW."

The resignation announcement came after Mr O'Farrell told the ICAC hearing he could not recall receiving a gift in April 2011 of a bottle of 1959 Penfold's Grange Hermitage wine, reportedly valued at about $3 000, from Mr Nick Di Girolamo who is currently under investigation about possibly corrupt corporate water infrastructure dealings in Sydney linked to the Obeid family.

"The Premier's resignation occurs as the ICAC is exposing much deeper and more widespread levels of impropriety in NSW politics than previously understood," Professor O'Sullivan said.

"Neither major party is now in a position to campaign with authority on the question of honesty, transparency, and due process, which must reasonably challenge voters' confidence in the system's capacity to restore integrity to Government.

"NSW is well-served by having an institution such as the ICAC to probe the conduct of elected and other public officials."

Professor O'Sullivan suggests that in these circumstances voters might prudently demand changes to an electoral system that entrenches two-party domination."A proportional electoral system that allows voters real choice ought to be considered as a way of providing the political accountability, transparency and credibility that two-party domination cannot provide," Professor O'Sullivan said.