The head of a Canberra company, and Labor Party donor, which featured chief minister Andrew Barr in a private promotional video, says he is surprised at opposition leader Jeremy Hanson's calls for an investigation as the company had also donated to the Canberra Liberals.
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The chief executive of Dexar Group, known publicly as real estate company Independent Property Group, John Runko, said he asked Mr Barr to "introduce" the company in a video ahead of meetings with Chinese investors about a year ago.
The company has made 20 donations to the ACT Labor branch since 2013 but Mr Barr has defended his decision to front the endorsement, saying it was something he did "routinely" for many Canberra businesses to aid international expansion, including Canberra Airport.
"The support of the chief minister can be the difference between a Canberra company getting an international contract or business going to another jurisdiction," he said.
But Mr Hanson said on Friday he had asked speaker Vicki Dunne to refer the matter to the ACT's standards commissioner Ken Crispin for investigation as it was indicative of the "smell" around the government.
"The matter has raised concerns about a conflict of interest or a perceived conflict of interest," Mr Hanson said.
"If that was found to be the case it would be a breach of the code of conduct."
Mr Barr would not comment about Dexar Group's donations to the Labor party.
But Mr Runko denied Mr Barr's participation in the video had anything to do with the donations and said there was "never an expectation you're going to get anything in return".
"I can understand why there is a hang-up with the perception of political donations, but these political donations are generally access to dinners and meetings where you get to interact with both sides of politics … get an understanding of policy and provide them with feedback … necessary to derive a better deal for our clients and customers," he said.
"We attend these things on both sides of politics … I was surprised by Jeremy's reaction because I would hope that a Liberal minister for economic development would be out there promoting Canberra businesses and doing what he could to further the Canberra economy and business sector as well."
Mr Hanson said as chief minister he would "always go into bat for local business but at the same time ensure there is no perception of a conflict of interest".
Mr Runko said hoped a new chief minister would be "just as accessible" to Dexar and other Canberra businesses wanting to expand if there was a change of government at the next ACT election.
"It's not about a special deal for us, it's about helping Canberra business to grow and bring economic benefit back to territory through additional employment, taxes being paid and more prosperity to the city in general," he said
"Most people wouldn't have known us from a bar of soap when you're turning up in a foreign land so we asked the chief minister whether he would give us an introduction to the people we were going to meet."
Mr Runko said the company's temporary website, which hosted a link to the private YouTube video, was taken down in January but the video was only disabled this week.
He said it was intended to be for a "select group" of Chinese businesspeople rather than an "advertisement" for all of Canberra.
Mr Barr will have the opportunity to respond in writing during Dr Crispin's investigation.
Should Dr Crispin chose to write a report it will be up to Mr Barr to approve its release, but on Friday he would not say if he would make the findings public.
