Noel Hicks, who held the seats of Riverina-Darling and Riverina between 1980 and 1998, said that pork barrelling - the blatant use of funds to win votes - was "a real problem".

"There's no doubt about that," Mr Hicks said. "It occurs on both sides of politics and I imagine it's gone on for time immemorial."

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Recently, the Independent Commission Against Corruption held a forum examining whether pork barrelling was lawful or could constitute corruption.

Last year, ICAC revealed taped conversations between former Wagga MP Daryl Maguire and Gladys Berejiklian in which they discussed allocating tens of millions of dollars in grants to projects in Wagga.

ICAC is yet to hand down its findings and Ms Berejiklian has staunchly denied any wrongdoing.

Mr Hicks said pork barrelling was not always clear cut and that sometimes situations could be "coincidental" with certain parties "putting up a better argument than others" when applying for funding.

He said it was "a bit ridiculous" for the new federal government to talk about setting up a national anti-corruption watchdog, because each state already had its own review process.

Rather, he supports a process where government funds are more evenly split, regardless of political support in any given seat.

The recent ICAC forum also considered whether ministers should be allowed discretion to make funding decisions, but Mr Hicks said this was necessary.

"It's a very difficult issue, because if the members of the parliament are not going to do it, then who is? Heaven help us if the public servants do because a lot of them are politically orientated anyway," he said.

CSU professor of Political Science Dominic O'Sullivan agreed it could be difficult to identify pork barrelling, but said a federal anti-corruption watchdog was key.

"I think the case for a federal ICAC is compelling," he said.

"There was obviously significant public support for that at the federal election with a number of independent candidates who were elected after campaigning on that.

"The ALP also committed to a policy of having a federal ICAC and I understand the legislation is going to be introduced fairly soon."

As for ministerial discretion, Professor O'Sullivan agreed with Mr Hicks that it was important.

"We elect people to parliament to exercise that judgement, but when they do that to suit themselves politically or when there is a conflict of interest ... then that can be unethical," he said.

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