Chief Minister Andrew Barr says he made a mistake when he appointed Walter Sofronoff KC as the chair of the board of inquiry that examined the handling of the Parliament House rape trial.
Mr Barr made the admission at a leaders' debate hosted by the Property Council on Wednesday.
"I accepted advice from the Justice and Community Safety Directorate and the Attorney-General to appoint Walter Sofronoff. That was a mistake," Mr Barr said.
Mr Sofronoff led the inquiry that examined the handling of the trial of Bruce Lehrmann, who had been accused of raping Brittany Higgins at Parliament House in 2021.
The Integrity Commission is now examining Mr Sofronoff's actions while he was charged with leading the inquiry.
Mr Sofronoff, a former president of the Queensland court of appeal and solicitor-general in that state, made a series of damning findings against Shane Drumgold SC, who was the director of public prosecutions handling the case.
Mr Drumgold resigned in the wake of the report's release. But Mr Sofronoff's decision to hand a copy of the report to journalists led to a finding of apprehended bias against Mr Drumgold.
Mr Barr has previously criticised Mr Sofronoff for breaching his trust in releasing the board of inquiry report early to a columnist on The Australian and a reporter at the ABC.
Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury, who is leader of the Greens, said Mr Sofronoff was highly regarded by a range of stakeholders at the time of his appointment.
"That is what made his subsequent conduct, identified by the Supreme Court, so surprising and unexpected," Mr Rattenbury said in a statement.
"At the time, the proposal was ratified by cabinet."
The Chief Minister and Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee were on Wednesday invited to offer examples of times they had made mistakes.
Ms Lee offered no specific example but said she was prepared to make tough decisions.
It was not healthy for a leader to never look back and reflect on the decisions they had taken, Ms Lee said.
Mr Barr said he faced thousands of decisions during a parliamentary term and he endeavoured to learn from mistakes and not repeat them.
The ACT Bar Council last week dismissed 10 allegations against Mr Drumgold arising from the prosecution against Mr Lehrmann after finding it was "not satisfied that there is a reasonable likelihood" Mr Drumgold would be found guilty.
