He is the tenth state Liberal MP to join the cross bench after admitting to secret donations, sham invoices and a questionable donation from his personal accountant.

In a brief statement made to the Examiner he said his actions were "ignorance rather than malicious intent".

Mr Baumann initially said he would not stand-down from his position, but less than one hour later announced he would join the cross bench.

Mr Baumann reportedly admitted his 2007 electoral funding declaration was not accurate and did not show two donations from developers Hilton Grugeon and Jeff McCloy, former Lord Mayor of Newcastle, totalling $79,684.

While it was not illegal to take contributions from developers at the time, it has called into question Mr Baumann’s stance on the Wallalong rezoning. 

Both McCloy and Grugeon are involved in a proposal for a large-scale residential development for 3700 houses at Wallalong, which was rejected by the state government back in June.

Mr Baumann also admitted "sham" invoices were created to hide the donations.

His 2011 electoral funding was also called into question due to a $100, 000 donation made by his personal accountant Vince Heufel.

But Mr Baumann conceded that the real source of the donation was his own company Valley Homes.

MORE TO COME

Read the most poignant tweets of the day below.