ACT Labor backbencher Bec Cody has alleged members of the Canberra Liberals - including leader Alistair Coe - tried to corrupt a parliamentary inquiry into rates by redirecting submissions to a party-owned website, an accusation that could derail the inquiry.
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Late on Wednesday, Ms Cody gave notice of a motion to set up a privileges committee into the conduct of Mr Coe, as well as Liberal MLAs Elizabeth Lee and Candice Burch, over a flier promoting the Legislative Assembly's probe into the rates changes for units and apartments.
Bearing the faces and signatures of Ms Burch and Ms Lee, the flier called on people to make submissions to the Public Accounts committee about their rates via the haveyoursay.net.au website.
However that website is not operated by the Assembly, but by the Liberal party.
The flier states the ACT Labor-Greens government "unfairly" changed the methodology to determine land tax and rates for units, "without a mandate" and "without consultation".
"If you are an owner or a tenant or just think this is unfair, we encourage you to make a submission to the inquiry at haveyoursay.net.au/strata. Submissions do not have to be long, and can simply outline how higher rates and taxes have negatively impacted you or your family," it reads.
In her motion, Ms Cody - who, alongside Mr Coe, is a member of the Public Accounts committee - says the flier "encouraged" residents to make negative submissions to the inquiry, which could constitute an attempt to influence its outcome.
Furthermore, as political parties are exempt from the ACT's privacy laws, there's no rules about how the information will be used or guarantees the submissions were forwarded onto the Assembly without changes.
This opens up the possibility that the inquiry has been "biased" or "corrupted", Ms Cody said.
She cited the findings of a 2004 privileges committee, where Liberal politician Vicki Dunne - who is still a member of the Assembly - distributed a leaflet also deemed to "improperly" interfere with an Assembly inquiry.
The motion will be debated on Thursday morning.
The establishment of a privileges committee could derail the rates inquiry, which has attracted nearly 70 submissions from landlords, owner-occupiers, pensioners and self-funded retirees crying foul over changes last year that left them hundreds and thousands of dollars out of pocket.
The inquiry was already operating on a tight timeframe, due to report by the end of May ahead of the June budget.
However the privileges committee would have the rest of the year to investigate Ms Cody's allegations.
That would mean the rates inquiry would be put on hold indefinitely.
That is disappointing to Owners Corporation Network ACT president Gary Petherbridge, who was instrumental in amassing the thousands of signatures needed to create the inquiry.
"This was a community effort. 5800 signatures, and 70 significant submissions were submitted to try and get some fairness, understanding and transparency around how the rating system works, and to have it become a ploy in a political game is very unfortunate and unfair," Mr Petherbridge said.
Mr Coe told Fairfax Media the motion was "yet another Labor tactic to stifle the views of anyone who disagrees with them and avoid an inquiry into rates".
“The rates issue is of enormous importance to a large number of Canberrans," Mr Coe said.
“All MLAs should encourage citizens to express their views and participate in the democratic process."
However Ms Cody said members of the Assembly should not "abuse their position to misrepresent this place or its procedures".
The motion came weeks after Chief Minister Andrew Barr was found to have breached parliamentary rules when he apparently threatened to remove Liberal politician Jeremy Hanson as chairman of the Economic Development and Tourism standing committee.
In that case the ACT Greens, who hold the balance of power, sided with the Liberals in finding Mr Barr in breach of standing orders.
However the parliament opted to refer both Mr Barr and Mr Hanson to the standing committee on Administration and Procedure, rather than set up a privileges committee.
A Greens spokeswoman said they would consider their position on this latest motion overnight.
