The Liberals have slammed Labor for what it describes as the "cynical" announcement of reforms to the Land Development Agency the day before a long-awaited auditor-general's report into its conduct is published.
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The audit of the agency's controversial purchase of Glebe Park land is expected to be released on Friday, a potential headache for Labor two weeks out from the election.
The LDA bought the Glebe Park block from developers Barry Morris and Graham Potts for $4.2 million, a price four times the first of two wildly different valuations.
The deal was struck to give the government parkland it wanted to build a stormwater pond, although part of the land is also sought by the casino for its expansion.
It raised questions about the high purchase price and why the LDA didn't simply compulsorily acquire the land, given it was needed for public infrastructure.
Auditor-General Dr Maxine Cooper is also looking at the purchase of lakeside businesses by the LDA.
On Thursday, the government detailed its plans to reform the agency, splitting it to create a separate agency to focus on urban renewal on major projects such as City to the Lake and the Northbourne corridor project.
That would leave the LDA to focus on greenfield developments.
The reformed LDA is expected to have a separate board and governance structure, and would have a greater focus on housing affordability, although would continue to follow land release targets issued by the government.
On Thursday, deputy opposition leader Alistair Coe criticised the timing of Labor's announcement, saying it appeared designed to deflect criticism that may come from the auditor-general's report.
Mr Coe, who has already pledged to significantly curb the LDA's power, described the move as "cynical".
"What has sparked this sham restructure is an imminent auditor-general's report, which I expect is going to be very critical about how Andrew Barr has been inappropriately using the LDA," he said.
Labor rejected the criticism, saying it had previously flagged the proposed restructure of the LDA in a number of different forums in recent weeks.
"This is a reform the chief minister has outlined in a number of forums in recent weeks, in fact The Canberra Times reported on this more than a fortnight ago," a spokesman said.
"The formal election campaign is the period in the electoral cycle where it is customary to outline party policies for the coming parliamentary term."
Mr Coe said Labor appeared to be blaming the LDA for housing affordability problems, when the agency was simply following cabinet's land release targets.
Asked whether the Liberals would increase the targets, Mr Coe responded: "Yes, we would increase them. The reason we could categorically say that the government is not meeting the demand is through what's happening over at Googong and Tralee. There is demand for affordable greenfield development, but because the government is unwilling to provide it, people are voting with their feet."
