The ACT government wants to re-introduce a dedicated "communications allowance" for territory politicians - a move the Greens say will allow the two major parties to exceed the $1 million election-year spending cap.
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Chief Minister Andrew Barr drew the ire of Labor's coalition partner on Thursday when he brought forward laws to create the allowance.
The allowance would not result in an increase to MLAs salaries, with the yet-to-be-determined amount to be taken out of their existing pay packets.
Territory parliamentarians used to have a $15,000 communication allowance, before it was abolished by the remuneration tribunal in 2016.
An equivalent sum of money was rolled into the parliamentarians' base salaries.
In a speech to the Assembly, Mr Barr said the move had created "significant unintended consequences".
He suggested the current model lacked transparency, given there were no safeguards to ensure that money was not spent on election material.
Secondly, he said from January 1, money spent by parliamentarians on "routine communications" would "very likely" be counted towards the maximum $1 million amount that political parties could spend on material in an election year.
Money spent under the proposed "communication allowance" would not be counted against the $1 million cap.
"MLAs should be able to routinely communicate with their constituents about their work," Mr Barr said in the speech.
"This is not electioneering."
Greens crossbencher Caroline Le Couteur disagreed, describing the proposal as a "blatant attempt" to give the major parties more spending power in an election year.
Labor spent $985,000 at the 2016 election, while the Liberals spent $962,000. The Greens spent $321,000.
"This is particularly unfair because this is a particular amount of money that you only get if you are already in the Assembly," Ms Le Couteur said.
"So if you're a minor party, or an independent, you don't get this money as part of your electoral cap - it's just not fair."
In a statement to The Canberra Times, Mr Barr said under the existing scheme, parliamentarians could "keep the money in their pockets without telling taxpayers how they're spending it".
"This is unacceptable and goes against community expectations," he said.
Mr Barr said the money would not be allowed to be used for election-related activities, including soliciting votes, asking for donations, asking for party membership renewals or making how-to-vote cards.
A Canberra Liberals spokeswoman said: "We remain committed to an election spending cap while maintaining duties as elected representatives".
"We'll have discussions with both Labor and the Greens about what's being proposed," the spokeswoman said.
