List of Canberra buildings with potentially flammable cladding to be kept secret

The government has finished an audit - which began more than two years ago - of 466 public buildings with 70 found to have some form of the cladding.

Building Quality Minister Gordon Ramsay said releasing the now finalised list would involve "risks" but would not elaborate.

However a response to a rejected freedom of information request cited an increased risk of bushfires and threats to public safety.

"If released, the list would expose the vulnerability of a significant number of territory-owned buildings," the response read.

The government says all buildings found to contain the cladding are safe to occupy. But it's unclear where the buildings are and whether they include public housing.

Mr Ramsay said each site was now being assessed to determine what, if any, remediation work was required.

He said the presence of cladding did not necessarily mean a building was unsafe to occupy.

"In the interest of transparency we're providing this update as part of the work at the moment," he said.

"Our priority will be to ensure any immediate actions that can be taken are, which includes practices like removing any potential ignition sources ... and making sure building occupants are advised of any remediation work.

"We want to ensure all Canberrans that every single ACT government building is safe to occupy.

"Unlike other jurisdictions ... the ACT has no government buildings that are either of high or extreme fire safety risk to its occupants or to the broader community.

"For some of the sites...no work at all will be required."

Mr Ramsay said if work was required, it could include things like upgrading the buildings' fire safety management systems, modifying evacuation plans or removing parts of the cladding.

"It's important for people to understand that cladding can be used in a way that the risk is not high," he said.

The government will also begin work to identify, where possible, the use of combustible cladding on private buildings in the ACT.

Mr Ramsay said that work would involve liaising with insurers, building owners and other stakeholders.

The audit began in the wake of the deadly Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017.

It quickly identified potentially dangerous cladding panels at Centenary Hospital and five other ACT health buildings.

But these are the only buildings to be publicly identified.

Last year the government embarked on a $1 million project to replace aluminium panels at the women and children's building at the hospital.