The New South Wales government has given in to Labor's demands to regularly publish ministerial diaries as the ICAC continues to claim more political scalps.
Mike Baird's new cabinet has signed off on the government releasing a summary of each minister's external meetings every three months.
The summary will include why the meeting was held and whether any registered lobbyists were present.
Premier Baird is hoping the disclosures will help restore the public's confidence in politicians and parties.
He says cabinet matters and information that is personal or commercial in confidence will be excluded.
"There'll be sensible protections around matters of state interest, they'll be determined by the Department of Premier and Cabinet," he said.
"For the first time ever we're publishing details of meetings held by ministers with external parties seeking to influence public policy.
"That transparency can provide increased confidence to the people of NSW in the decision-making process of government."
Labor leader John Robertson suggested monthly publications last week by introducing a private members bill.
But he says the government's measures don't go far enough.
"We should be seeing the Premier announce increased transparency when it comes to the interests of MPs and their partners and dependent children," he said.
"We should be seeing greater disclosure of all the activities around the parliament including an office of parliamentary ethics and standards with someone full time on the job monitoring what it is parliamentarians are doing."
Mr Baird says this is only the first of many measures to be introduced.
"It provides a discipline on ministers and discipline on anyone who wants to see a minister," he said.
"You need to understand that those details will be made public.
"The public has a right to know who is meeting and what they're meeting their government about.
"By improving that transparency we believe it goes a long way to restoring confidence in decision making and it is a critical step forward as we try to clean up politics in New South Wales."
Queensland is the only other state in Australia that publishes ministerial diaries, but they do it on a monthly basis.
The US President Barack Obama and the British Prime Minister David Cameron both publish their diaries online.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/latest/23466943/ministers-diaries-to-be-published-to-improve-transparency-over-political-lobbying/
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