Victorian Current Acts

PARLIAMENTARY BUDGET OFFICER ACT 2017 - SECT 37

    (1)     Subject to subsections (5) and (6), after receiving an election policy costing request, the Parliamentary Budget Officer must, in accordance with the PBO protocols—

        (a)     prepare a costing of the policy; and

        (b)     provide the costing to the parliamentary leader who requested the costing.

    (2)     An election policy costing—

        (a)     must summarise the policy to which it relates; and

        (b)     must summarise the information that—

              (i)     was provided by the parliamentary leader under section 36(2) or in accordance with a request under subsection (4); and

              (ii)     is materially relevant to the costing; and

        (c)     must set out the material net financial impact of the policy on the forward budget estimates and key financial indicators contained in the financial report or budget update most recently released under Part 5 of the Financial Management Act 1994 ; and

        (d)     must disclose any existing costing that is accepted and relied on as required by subsection (3)(b); and

        (e)     must disclose any circumstances in which the Parliamentary Budget Officer has exercised a judgement that would have a material impact on the costing; and

        (f)     may contain any other explanatory information the Parliamentary Budget Officer considers appropriate, other than any information referred to in paragraph (g); and

        (g)     must not include any information—

              (i)     referred to in section 19(2); or

              (ii)     contained in a document referred to in section 19(2); or

              (iii)     contained in a financial report or budget update that has been prepared, but not yet released, under Part 5 of the Financial Management Act 1994 ; or

              (iv)     that is an excerpt from information
or a document that a public sector body Head advised, under section 25(4) or  26(5), is subject to Cabinet confidentiality; or

              (v)     that states or implies that, in preparing the election policy costing, the Parliamentary Budget Officer used either an exempt document under section 28 of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 or information that, if it were in the form of a document, would be an exempt document under that provision; and

        (h)     must include the following information
if the costing was prepared using financial information or economic or other assumptions contained in a financial report or budget update that has been prepared, but not yet released, under Part 5 of the Financial Management Act 1994 —

              (i)     a statement to that effect; and

              (ii)     a statement identifying the nature of that information or assumption.

    (3)     In preparing an election policy costing, the Parliamentary Budget Officer must—

        (a)     use the financial information and economic and other assumptions contained in—

              (i)     the financial report or budget update most recently released under Part 5 of the Financial Management Act 1994 ; or

              (ii)     a more recent financial report or budget update that has been prepared, but not yet released, under Part 5 of the Financial Management Act 1994 ; and

        (b)     if an element of the policy has been costed in statements laid before each House of the Parliament under section 27E of the Financial Management Act 1994 , accept and rely on that costing; and

        (c)     have regard to any information provided by the parliamentary leader under section 36(2) or in accordance with a request under subsection (4).

    (4)     If the Parliamentary Budget Officer needs more information for the purpose of preparing an election policy costing, the Officer may request in writing the parliamentary leader who made the election policy costing request to provide that information.

    (5)     If the Parliamentary Budget Officer neither has nor expects to have sufficient information or time to prepare an election policy costing before the end of the election costing period, the Officer—

        (a)     is to stop preparing the costing; and

        (b)     must, as soon as practicable—

              (i)     inform the parliamentary leader who requested the costing that the Officer will stop preparing the costing because of insufficient time or information (as the case requires); and

              (ii)     inform any entity (other than the parliamentary leader who requested the costing) that the Officer requested to provide information or a document relevant to the request that the information or document is no longer required.

    (6)     If the policy for which the costing is requested has already been costed in statements laid before each House of the Parliament under section 27E of the Financial Management Act 1994 , the Parliamentary Budget Officer—

        (a)     is not to prepare the costing; and

        (b)     must, as soon as practicable—

              (i)     inform the parliamentary leader who requested the costing that the policy has already been costed; and

              (ii)     inform any entity (other than the parliamentary leader who requested the costing) that the Officer requested to provide information or a document relevant to the request that the information or document is no longer required.

    (7)     Subsections (5)(b) and (6)(b) do not apply if the information or document is also relevant to another current election policy costing request.