However, Katy Gallagher is concerned the lack of information poses a risk to renters and tradespeople, and will soon decide on new measures to alert them.

At a closed meeting on Sunday, Ms Gallagher and the head of her government's asbestos taskforce, Andrew Kefford, spoke to hundreds of people affected by Mr Fluffy asbestos – dangerous, loose-fill insulation installed in many ACT homes in the 1970s.

The government twice rejected a Canberra Times freedom of information request for the list of more than 1000 properties known to be affected, saying home owners' rights to privacy outweighed the public-health benefits in identifying the sites.

Ms Gallagher said on Tuesday she personally preferred the option of publishing more details.

"But a very large number of Mr Fluffy owners don't want that information out there and I think that, at this time, I have to respect their privacy," she said.

"They are concerned that once it's identified as a Mr Fluffy house, they will be subjected to [public] hysteria and ... all the stress that comes with that. They're under enormous financial pressure at the moment as it is without having to deal with that, too."

Last month, the government reminded real estate agents to disclose the presence of loose-fill asbestos to people who lived or worked in an affected property.

However, Ms Gallagher said further measures were needed to safeguard renters and tradespeople.

"We're looking at several options. I've had advice on tagging the houses – in the electricity box, for example. So, if you're a tradesperson you can open the electricity box and see that it's a Mr Fluffy house," she said.

"This offers protection to renters and tradespeople without necessarily identifying these homes more broadly."

The Fluffy Owners and Residents' Action Group, which represents some of the affected home owners and tenants, says it wants tradespeople, home buyers and others to be told of the risks of exposure, but it supports the government's decision to suppress the list of properties from publication.

The group says some of its members fear "destructive vandalism" and others have decided not to tell their children about the asbestos so as to avoid upsetting them unnecessarily.

Mr Kefford had earlier denied access to the list of affected properties, citing privacy concerns and also the sensitivity of federal bureaucrats and ministers.

He said Commonwealth officials could regard publishing the list as provocative and, as a result, be less willing to negotiate with the ACT in good faith.

"... in pursuit of negotiations with the Commonwealth in relation to contaminated land more generally in the territory, agreement was reached at head-of-agency level that it would be undesirable to play out negotiations in the media and that actions in this regard by either party would likely stall or derail those discussions," he wrote in response to an FOI request.

"lt is also my view that actions on the part of territory officials that might be seen as megaphone diplomacy or deliberately provocative in bringing attention to a particular issue is likely to hinder future co-operation by the Commonwealth in relation to the program, and potentially prejudice the flow of information between jurisdictions ..."

However, Mr Kefford rejected an earlier argument posed by an ACT official, who had said publishing the list might "unreasonably harm" landlords' ability to profit from their properties.

The ACT and federal government are negotiating the costs of repairing the Canberra homes. A federal program in the 1980s and 1990s failed to adequately remove the asbestos.

The relevant federal minister, Eric Abetz, declined to say whether the Commonwealth would be offended if a list of the affected properties was published. Senator Abetz's spokesman said the "ACT's freedom of information process is entirely a matter for them [ACT officials]".