Bernie Ripoll (Oxley, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business) Share this | Hansard source

Firstly, I would like to thank very much all those members who have contributed to this debate. It is pleasing that there has been so much interest in this Parliamentary Service Amendment (Parliamentary Budget Officer) Bill. Fiscal transparency from all political parties is an essential component of Australia's budgetary framework, and the public must be able to see what political parties stand for and what their policies cost. Political parties need to be accountable for their promises and should not be able to make a series of uncosted assurances that never get subjected to rigorous independent scrutiny. Such scrutiny is exactly what this bill will achieve. The PBO's post-election report will become an important and enduring reference document for the costs of political party promises. If parties try to evade the official costing options available to them during elections, it will all come home to roost in the post-election report.

I again thank all members who contributed to this debate and I acknowledge that the opposition will be supporting this bill and these amendments. The bill positions the PBO as a non-partisan and objective assessor of the fiscal responsibility of political parties at election time. It is an important role, not a role given lightly, and it is a measure of the confidence and trust that the PBO has established with the parliament in a relatively short time. Ultimately, it is up to the public to decide the government it wants and the policies it prefers; but, to make those important choices, the public needs good information.

With the establishment of the PBO last year, parties were given another option to have their election commitments costed outside of using Treasury and Finance. So there are no excuses for any party to get to the election without a fully costed and transparent policy platform. However, regrettably not all parties may want to embrace fiscal transparency during an election campaign and could seek to avoid scrutiny. The PBO's post-election report will expose those parties and impose discipline on the promises made in the lead-up to elections. I will shortly be moving amendments to shore up these processes, to protect against political avoidance of this exposure. The post-election report will ensure that our public debate is informed by properly costed and properly funded policies and that our focus is on the policies that will make Australia stronger, smarter and fairer. A better informed public is a better democracy. I commend this bill to the House.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

See this speech in context