The ACT government will establish a law reform and sentencing advisory council which will provide public and independent advice to government on ways to ensure territory laws remain current and relevant.

Mr Rattenbury has been under pressure to commission a review of criminal sentencing in the ACT, amid growing community concern punishments have not reflected the damage caused by dangerous driving and other offending.

"A one-off sentencing review will give you a point-in-time answer, but I actually think having a group that can do sustained work and can proactively look at issues as well as reactively really puts the territory in the best position to have confidence that we are examining the issues that need to be examined," Mr Rattenbury told The Canberra Times.

Mr Rattenbury said the council would be established in a matter of months and would seek to attract a diverse group of experts through an open expressions of interest program.

The council, which will be funded from the ACT's confiscated assets trust, would be able to collect information on criminal sentencing and publish data and analysis of sentencing trends and practices.

Mr Rattenbury said it was important for the council to be transparent with its recommendations and advice to government. "I want this council to operate very openly - to be seeking public input," he said.

"But also be public in their advice to government and then government can either accept the advice or make the argument publicly why it doesn't agree, and I think that's important for the community having confidence in the outcomes of these debates."

Mr Rattenbury said the terms of reference for the council were still to be finalised, but its members may be drawn from ACT Policing, the courts, the ACT Bar Association, the ACT Law Society along with academics and other community members.

"I think having a diverse group on a council like this will mean there's an opportunity to try and ventilate those issues in a group and for them to either build consensus and find solutions or, if they can't, perhaps be clear to the community about their differences of views," he said.

"Given that these are complex issues in which reasonable minds may well differ, it's valuable to both the government and the community to have another body that can also provide advice to government, and potentially a different perspective."

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Mr Rattenbury said he had always remained open to justice system improvements and the government had looked carefully to achieve a lasting impact.

"I hope that this will meet some of those community expectations - perhaps not everybody's," he said.

"What we have done is try to take a considered approach into how we make a lasting impact and a positive impact - and I think this mechanism is a good way to do that."

The previous ACT law reform advisory council was closed in the last term of government, leaving the territory as the only Australian jurisdiction without a law reform body.

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