The board of inquiry into the trial of Bruce Lehrmann will be able to investigate any potential political interference in the case, the ACT government has confirmed.
According to the terms of reference, released on Wednesday, the inquiry will investigate whether there was any wrongdoing by police or prosecutors.
If misconduct is uncovered, the parameters allow former judge Walter Sofronoff, who will lead the investigation, to interrogate any reasons or motivations for wrongdoing, which could explore whether there was potential political interference in the case.
The inquiry, which is the ACT equivalent of a royal commission, will also probe the circumstances around the public release of a letter by ACT Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Shane Drumgold to the ACT's top police officer Neil Gaughan.
In the letter, Mr Drumgold complained about detectives' "blatant misrepresentations" and "cherry-picked" summaries of evidence. He also alleged police pressured him on several occasions not to charge Mr Lehrmann.
Mr Lehrmann was accused of raping his then colleague Brittany Higgins in an office at Parliament House in 2019.
His trial was aborted after a juror engaged in misconduct and, although a retrial was originally scheduled to begin on February 20, Mr Drumgold abandoned the retrial last year amid fears that a trial would adversely affect Ms Higgins's health.
Mr Lehrmann has maintained his innocence and there have been no findings against him.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr acknowledged that "most people" would consider the correspondence between the territory's top prosecutor and top police officer to contain "highly unusual allegations and comments".
But he added "the advice that I have is that those relationships continue to work effectively on a day-to-day basis."
He said he expected Mr Sofronoff to explore the interactions between police and the DPP "vigorously", if he saw fit.
While speaking to the media, Mr Barr was asked whether he expected any federal politicians' actions to be investigated.
"This whole thing is laced with politics, it's the only reason you [journalists] are asking these questions," he said.
"I really don't want to get into hypotheticals at this point, I just don't think it's useful."
Inquiry's original scope was 'over-cluttered'
ACT Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury said the scope of the inquiry was intentionally broad and could "absolutely … include political interference".
He said Mr Sofronoff had workshopped the terms of reference and initially thought the government's draft version was "over-cluttered".
"I think I can put the view that [Mr Sofronoff] is comfortable with these terms of reference," Mr Rattenbury said.
"Probably the best way to describe it is that we simplified it."
As a result of the consultation with Mr Sofronoff, the inquiry will not extend to investigating whether the ACT needs new measures to deal with juror misconduct.
"He had the view that that was a policy matter for the government and not a matter for the board of inquiry," Mr Rattenbury said.
The minister said the Justice and Community Safety Directorate would explore potential changes to jury rules.
Report won't be made public immediately
Mr Barr said the inquiry would be able to begin "almost immediately" but people should not expect the report or the government's response to be made public until July or August.
"I will receive the report, I will go through a cabinet process and we will consider either an interim or full response depending on the content of the report," he said.
"But please don't ask me from July 1 for a response."
The chief minister said he intended to release the report in full, but would offer an explanation if he sought to redact any content.
