David Bradbury (Lindsay, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I want to offer a few final observations in relation to the amendment. Some confusion has arisen in the way in which this debate has proceeded. Some have suggested that it is not open to the PBO, under the bill that the government has brought forward, to draw upon forecasts from others, to comment on forecasts from others or to provide some analysis in relation to forecasts of others. The bill ensures that, when it comes to the provision of costings, those provisions are to rely upon a benchmark or a baseline, and that baseline will be the forecasts that will be provided by Treasury and by Finance.

What we have seen in the course of this debate has been an attempt to obfuscate the real issues. I have heard a lot of discussion here about transparency and accountability, and I will remind those opposite of that as they seek to move a couple of the other amendments that I know are forthcoming. One of the points that I would like to make is that, when it comes to the question of the role of the PBO—

See this speech in context