Andrew Robb (Goldstein, Liberal Party, Chairman of the Coalition Policy Development Committee) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I was trying to elicit from the parliamentary secretary some very legitimate answers to legitimate questions. I have been totally unsuccessful, as have about 30 of my colleagues to date, but we will keep going and we will keep trying. I ask you, Parliamentary Secretary: if we do carry out our costings, everyone of them before the campaign begins, when is the Parliamentary Budget Office required to release the costings that it has determined in the period before the 33-day campaign? It is not that difficult. You have had that question for 2½ hours now and still have not provided an answer. I would be grateful for an answer to that question.

Secondly, we are told in the government's own explanatory memorandum to this bill that the MOU may also outline the grounds on which agencies can refuse access to information, which could include the same grounds that documents can be exempted from requests under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 and other relevant legislation. It goes on to say that the MOU would offer options for recourse by the officer should the requested information not be provided. This would seem that the Parliamentary Budget Office will be denied all information that would otherwise be able to be obtained by us under FOI. The same criteria that apply to FOI will apply to the restrictions applied on the Parliamentary Budget Office. I would ask the parliamentary secretary if that in fact is the case. Is that the case that the Parliamentary Budget Office, in dealing with the memoranda of understanding cast with up to 30 departments, can ask for and expect to get no more than what we could today request under FOI? (Time expired)

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