Treasury secretary Steven Kennedy has personally lobbied the Attorney-General’s Department to end a 13-year freeze on pay for barristers doing government work, amid worries it has created an uneven legal battlefield that hinders law enforcement.

The corporate and competition regulators have been arguing to change rules that limit government agencies to pay as little as one-fifth of what barristers can earn with private sector clients because it severely undercuts their ability to attract the best legal minds.