Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the member for North Sydney's amendment (1), which makes it very clear that what we are trying to achieve is to enable a genuinely independent Parliamentary Budget Officer to have regard to: 'either or both of the following: economic forecasts and budget estimates'.

I know that those opposite are quite partial to issuing talking points to everybody and expecting them all to just fall in line. Senator Cameron referred to that as a procession of 'lobotomised zombies'. I suppose what those opposite are trying to put past this parliament is the creation of a zombie Parliamentary Budget Office and ensure that it only does what the government wants it to do.

It is incredibly important that we have an independent and credible office that is able to support the members of this place and the other place in the important work they do in understanding the forecasts and the other issues that go to the government's budget estimates. I highlight in particular that every February, when appropriation bills 3 and 4 are brought into this place, the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship comes in here and asks for hundreds of millions of dollars extra—every year. Just this year in February the government came into this place and asked for $295 million extra for the blowouts in their budget. The figure of $295 million is interesting because for just six months that was a blowout that was bigger than the entire cost of running the Pacific solution for almost six years! At budget estimates we are never able to get an estimate of what their blowout is likely to be. It would be quite handy if there were an independent voice in this debate so that we are actually able to get a better handle on the misspending of the government and a better understanding of what the likely budget scenario will be, going forward.

You are never going to get it from this government. All you will get from this government are deceptions, and then they will hit the taxpayer with a massive big bill every February when they parade into this place and just simply ask for more and more money. Let me quote to you what the Congressional Budget Office's charter is to provide:

All the member for North Sydney is attempting to do here with this worthy amendment is to ensure that what is achieved in the Parliamentary Budget Office is what I have just read out in terms of the objectives of the Congressional Budget Office: to provide that independence for them to form their own view about what the budget outlook is, and to provide contestable advice, independently formed, that does not conform to the mantra and domination of a spin dominated government which likes to drive everybody into submission and to ensure that the only voice on economics and budget matters is the voice of the government.

That mantra might be appropriate in some countries but it is not appropriate in this one, where we have a parliamentary democracy which relishes the idea of transparency, freedom of information and a genuine and non-partisan view, potentially, about what these important matters are. We all want good information to base decisions on in this place, and we do not get it from the government because they hopelessly misbudget, going forward. In my area, as the shadow minister for immigration, they have blown their budget in the last two years alone by $3.2 billion. If we had access to a Parliamentary Budget Office that was actually tracking the expenditure and we were able to work with them to get a better handle on where things would go in the future we would be better informed to do the job that we were entrusted to in this place.

But this government does not want to do that. They really do not want to do that. They want another puppet on a string and another team of zombies to do their business because zombies are their business; zombies who come into this place and basically do what they want them to do.

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