The Northern Territory will finally get a lobbyist register, regardless of who wins Saturday’s election, with both major parties committing to establishing a register, which appears inspired by former chief minister Paul Henderson’s secret dealings with major gas players and his lobbying of the Labor government.

But neither party fully committed to opening up ministers’ diaries so the public can see who ministers are meeting with, a move the NT Greens say should be adopted to restore integrity to government.

The Territory has remained the only jurisdiction in the country without a lobbyist register, with a recent report by the Centre for Public Integrity finding the NT’s current conditions could lead to “lobbying activity steering government decision-making away from the public interest” due to a “lack of transparency and a lack of integrity”.

“Poor lobbying regulation means that electors are kept in the dark about decisions affecting their interests and cannot appropriately respond at the ballot box,” stated the report, that was commissioned by Lock the Gate.

“It also distorts the incentive structures for public office holders, leading to the risk that they might be less concerned with governing that with currying favour in the private sector in order to improve their future employment prospects.”

The report was tabled to the Senate Committee exploring the proposed Middle Arm gas and industrial precinct, during its Darwin hearings in April.

It was revealed at the Senate hearings that Charles Darwin University vice-chancellor Scott Bowman had written an unsolicited submission to the committee stating that CDU backed the Middle Arm industrial precinct, then tried to silence academics at the university who voiced their dissent, which violated the university’s academic freedoms policy.

Mr Bowman also failed to disclose the university’s “cozy” ties to the gas industry and the money it provides the uni, as well as CDU chancellor Paul Henderson’s connections to major gas companies through his consultancy firm Bespoke Territory.

Mr Henderson has quietly lobbied government on behalf of the gas industry in the NT for years, although his client list has never been made public. He is one of the key architects of the Middle Arm project that acquired $1.5 billion in federal money from the Federal Labor Government through lobbying efforts by a major international agency, which Mr Henderson recommended to the NT Government.

NT Greens candidate for Fannie Bay Suki Dorras-Walker said integrity was playing out as a major issue at this year’s election.

“The Greens are proud to be advocating hard for a lobbyist register and public diaries for all NT MLAs,” she said.

“We desperately need a Green in parliament to bring transparency back to decision making. None of this should be controversial, and it’s clear integrity is one of the major issues Territorians are considering when casting their votes this year.”

CLP Leader Lia Finocchiaro would not commit to opening ministers’ diaries but said if elected she would implement a lobbyist register.

“In 2022 the CLP committed to creating a lobbyist register to give confidence to Territorians who have suffered under Labor’s failed promise to deliver integrity in government,” she said.

“Unlike Labor, the CLP will deliver a system of transparent accountability drawing from existing models in other jurisdictions.”

Details were not provided.

Labor Leader Eva Lawler said if re-elected she would also implement a lobbyist register and would “review” whether or not to make ministerial diaries public.

“Let’s never forget – the CLP refused to establish the Independent Commission Against Corruption,” Ms Lawler said, which is not true as the previous Giles CLP government did commit to an ICAC back in 2016 ahead of that election.

“This government established the ICAC to improve transparency and scrutiny from all sides of politics.

“We do support a lobbyist register and we will also review the reporting of ministerial diaries.”

Scott Bowman was asked by the Senate inquiry into Middle Arm to provide the committee with Mr Henderson’s register of interests with the university. Instead of providing that, in May, Mr Bowman wrote a brief note to the committee, with a link to CDU’s conflict of interest policy, which it is presumed he finally read after previously telling the committee he was “not too sure” about the university’s rules around conflicts of interest.

“Conflicts of interest are declared at each council meeting by members and recorded in a register,” Mr Bowman wrote.

“The chancellor has disclosed to CDU his directorship with Bespoke Territory Pty Ltd.”

There was no explanation provided for why the register Mr Bowman said exists was not provided as per Senator David Pocock’s request. It is unclear who Mr Henderson’s company has done work for.

ASIC records show Bespoke Territory is registered to Mr Henderson, as well as former head NT public servant Mike Burgess.

Mr Henderson has repeatedly refused to answer the NT Independent’s questions about his dealings with the gas industry.