This is what the Australian Gillard Government intends to implement:
1. The Parliamentary Service Amendment (Parliamentary Budget Officer) Bill 2011 (PSA Bill) would, if enacted, amend the Parliamentary Service Act 1999 , which governs the Parliamentary Departments, and other Acts to establish the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) and the position of the Parliamentary Budget Officer (the Officer), and the purpose, functions and governance of the PBO.
2. Specifically, the PSA Bill would:
· Establish the PBO as a fourth Parliamentary Department, establish the Officer as an independent officer of the Parliament, and provide for the employment of PBO staff and the governance framework of the PBO;
· Establish the mandate of the PBO to inform the Parliament by providing independent and non-partisan analysis of the budget cycle, fiscal policy and the financial implications of proposals;
· Establish the functions of the PBO to respond to requests for policy costings and other requests relating to the budget, from Senators and Members of the House of Representatives, with responses able to be undertaken in a confidential manner upon request outside of the caretaker period, and in a manner consistent with the Charter of Budget Honesty Act 1998 (the Charter) during the caretaker period;
· Enable the Officer to enter into arrangements to access information from Australian Government agencies, consistent with other legislative requirements ;
· Establish the duties and authority of the Presiding Officers in regards to the PBO, including overseeing the operation and administration of the PBO; and
· Establish the duties and authority of the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit (JCPAA) in relation to the PBO, including enabling the JCPAA to consider the operations and work plan of the PBO.
3. The Bill would also amend several other Acts to enable the establishment of the PBO, namely:
· The Charter would be amended to extend the caretaker period in a manner consistent with the definition in the Guidelines on Caretaker Conventions to when a Government is sworn in following an election, clarify access to the election costing functions, minimise the duplication of policy costings, and update references within the Act;
· The Freedom of Information Act 1982 would be amended to include the PBO and the Officer as an exempt agency; and
· The Remuneration Tribunal Act 1973 and the Long Service Leave (Commonwealth Employees) Act 1976 would be amended to ensure that the Acts encompasses the position of the Officer.
4. The PSA Bill forms an important element of broader parliamentary reforms, which will enhance the credibility and transparency of the Commonwealth's already strong fiscal and budgetary frameworks. These changes have been developed in collaboration with the relevant Ministers and their Departments, and with the Presiding Officers.
5. The proposed amendments have no further impact to the underlying cash balance as funding of $24.9 million was allocated over 4 years to establish the PBO in the 2011-12 Budget.
This is what the Coalition under Tony Abbott asserts that it wants to see, as set out in Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey's two private members bills:
· a new body, accountable to the Parliament rather than the Executive, much like the Auditor-General or Commonwealth Ombudsman;
· independent, to enhance the transparency and accountability of the budget process, and help deliver better policy and financial outcomes for Australian taxpayers;
· well resourced, to ensure it is effective;
· tasked with providing objective and impartial advice and analysis across the parliament on the Commonwealth budget and budget cycle, including the impact of major policy announcements; and
· headed by the Parliamentary Budget Officer, who will be appointed by the presiding officers of the parliament on the advice of a committee of senior government officials, with an office of highly trained staff, whose calibre will reflect the Office's status as an independent body.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
Clause 32(4) of the Bill stipulates that:
"The appropriation of funds for the PBO in a non-election year must not be less than 3.5% of the departmental appropriation for the Department of the Treasury."
OUTLINE
The Charter of Budget Honesty Act (1998) was intended to produce better fiscal outcomes through institutional arrangements to improve the formulation and reporting of fiscal policy.
A key element of the Charter were arrangements for more equal access to Treasury and Finance costings of election commitments by the Government and Opposition.
One shortcoming of these arrangements for the Opposition is that they require the agreement of the Prime Minister for Opposition costings to be submitted to the Departments of the Treasury and Finance.
They also require the public release of the costing of a policy which has been submitted.
These arrangements create an environment where costings are not confidential and cannot be challenged or reviewed prior to being made public.
The Coalition has introduced the Parliamentary Budget Office Bill 2011 which seeks to establish an independent statutory authority which will provide objective and impartial advice and analysis on:
· The Commonwealth Budget and budget cycle;
· Medium and long-term budget projections;
· The costs of policy proposals; and
· Other matters as requested by Members and Senators.
The policy costing function of the PBO will differ from that in the Charter of Budget Honesty. Requests by non government MPs or Senators for policies to be costed will not require the agreement of the Prime Minister. Further, the costings will be confidential as they will not be able to be released to the public without the express approval of the relevant MP or Senator.
The costings provision in the PBO will supersede and make redundant the comparable provision in the Charter of Budget Honesty.
The Charter of Budget Honesty Amendment Bill 2011 removes the redundant provisions from the Charter of Budget Honesty.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
This Bill will have no financial impact.
While this is what the House of Representatives 12 September 2011 debate reveals concerning the Coalition's bills:
· Should Joe Hockey's bills fail to pass and the government's poor imitation of a costing service pass this place, the coalition will not submit its policy costings to either the Treasury or the PBO prior to the election.
·· The MP or senator requesting a costing will control the timing of the release of the policy costing and No longer will requests for policy costings and the costings themselves be published as soon as they are received and prepared by the departments of Treasury and Finance. This provision applies at all times, even during an federal election campaign, and the electorate may never be told of the costings advice received because it must provide for policies not to be released at all if that is the decision of the relevant parliamentarian.
· The Parliamentary Budget Officer cannot publish anything in relation to a request to provide advice made by an individual Member or Senator without the consent of the Member or Senator.
· The Prime Minister can withdraw his/her own formal request for costings advice but the Leader of the Opposition cannot withdraw his/her own request once it has been submitted.
· The Coalition's Budget Office would in practice be overseen in many of its functions by the Minister for Finance and not by Parliament.
· The Attorney‑General can forbid the Budget Office to publish certain information or disclose this information to Parliament, particularly if the federal government of the day wished to keep sensitive information from a state government.
It would appear that under any future Abbott Government voters are to be kept in the dark about all problems concerning the cost implications of existing policy and/or election campaign promises.
