An ACT Legislative Assembly committee inquiry has been given just four weeks to examine the potential for widening the scope of the territory's lobbyist register to include third party and in-house lobbyists.
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While the inquiry was one of the measures agreed under the Labor-Greens parliamentary agreement drawn up after the 2016 election, it has taken two years for either the government or the minor party to take any action on the issue.
It follows Assembly Clerk Tom Duncan earlier this year urging territory politicians to enact a ban on meeting with unregistered lobbyists, after more than four years of inaction on the issue since the register came into being in 2014.
His message, in a submission to an inquiry into the Assembly's standing orders, followed advice on the matter from the Assembly's Ethics and Integrity Adviser Stephen Skehill.
Contact between people acting for property developers and territory ministers continues to be a concern, with some lobbyists in recent years claiming they had no reason to register, despite working as consultants for developers in Canberra.
Last week, Chief Minister Andrew Barr wrote to the Assembly's Standing Committee on Administration and Procedure, asking it to inquire into and report on expanding the scope of the lobbyist register.
The letter asked for the inquiry to include considering covering in-house government relations staff, industry associations and project management liaison officers and companies, in similar wording to the agreement, neither of which included unions.
In the Assembly on Thursday, members voted to accept a motion from manager of government business Mick Gentleman to start the inquiry, but with an unusually limited timeframe, with the committee required to report back by November 29 this year.
Mr Gentleman told the Assembly it was timely to complete the inquiry now, given the expected passage of the legislation to create the territory's first anti-corruption commission this year.
It is unclear why action was not taken sooner on the register, given two inquiries into the anti-corruption commission have already been completed, nor why the inquiry begun on Thursday had just one month to formulate a report.
The agreement between the parties did not specify the scope of the inquiry, other than considering including those mentioned above in the register's scope, but did require a review of any changes one year after implementation.
A government response to the report, and any ensuing actual reforms, are not expected until some time in 2019, given November 29 is the last sitting day scheduled this year.
