A public inquiry into the the private lease of Killalea State Park land is a quick, effective and economical way to examine the negotiation process, says a Melbourne legal expert and Minnamurra property owner.

Lawyer Susan Bunting said she supported the call from Greens MP Sylvia Hale for an independent judicial inquiry into the deal, including whether political donations had any effect on the negotiations.

Mrs Bunting was a legal adviser to the NSW Labor government in the mid-1980s when then Premier Neville Wran visited Killalea to dedicate the land for public recreation.

Last April, Lands Minister Tony Kelly signed an agreement to lease three chunks of park land for 50 years to Killalea Coastal Investments, a joint venture by Babcock & Brown and Mariner Financial, to build 202 units and a resort.

Community members opposed to the lease want a royal commission, but Mrs Bunting said an inquiry was much more practical, and that it wouldn't drag on.

"It's not related to the conditions of the lease or the development itself and what's planned," she said yesterday.

"Instead such an inquiry would look at what happened before and during the negotiation and preparation of the development agreement.

"An inquiry goes beyond probity and is much less expensive than a royal commission, but enables us to make sure the deal was entered into with all the adequate community consultation.

"This would include whether donations impacted on state and ministerial responsibilities."

Multinational company Babcock & Brown donated more than $330,000 in a series of payments to the NSW Labor Party while negotiating the lease of Crown land.

Mr Kelly, ALP head office and Babcock & Brown all told the Mercury last week that the donations were unrelated and that ministers were not aware of individual contributions.

Ms Hale last week called for a halt to the controversial development.

She demanded an independent judicial inquiry to investigate whether the lease negotiations were affected by the 18 donations, paid between mid-2003 and mid-2007.

Figures from the Australian Electoral Office and the Election Funding Authority's returns show that in 2006-07 the developer gave NSW ALP $156,000, in 2005-06 $65,000, in 2004-05 $63,000 and in 2003-04 only $33,000.

Meanwhile, the international corporation kept its contribution to the NSW Liberal Party at about $33,000.