John Faulkner (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It would come as a real surprise to anyone listening to this debate—that is, if there is anyone listening after Senator Joyce's contribution—to realise that this is a second reading debate on the Parliamentary Service Amendment (Parliamentary Budget Officer) Bill 2011. I am going to break with the precedent of Senator Joyce and actually address the legislation that is before the chamber.

After the last election, an agreement for a better parliament—parliamentary reform—was negotiated between the political parties and Independent members of the House of Representatives. That agreement included commitments about the resources of the parliament, including the establishment of a Parliamentary Budget Office. I share with the chamber the wording of the agreement:

A Parliamentary Budget Office be established based in the Parliamentary Library to provide independent costings, fiscal analysis and research to all members of parliament, especially non-government members.

It goes on:

The structure, resourcing and protocols for such an office be the subject of a decision by a special committee of the parliament which is truly representative of the parliament.

That agreement stands in the names of Mr Christopher Pyne MP, Mr Anthony Albanese MP and Mr Rob Oakeshott MP.

To progress the commitment in the agreement to establish a special committee of the parliament, a Joint Select Committee on the Parliamentary Budget Office was established. I chaired that committee. The Deputy Chair of the committee was Mr Pyne. The committee members represented the Australian Labor Party, the Liberal Party of Australia, the National Party and the Australian Greens. Mr Oakeshott, an Independent in the House of Representatives, also served on the committee. Unusually for such a parliamentary exercise, that joint select committee brought down a unanimous report in March this year. Twenty-eight recommendations of the report were agreed to by each and every member of that joint select committee.