Bruce Billson (Dunkley, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Small Business, Competition Policy and Consumer Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

That was an excellent contribution from my friend and colleague the shadow Treasurer. What these provisions allude to and what is encapsulated in schedule 2 is a proper spread of information-gathering powers and disciplines about how that information would be utilised and applied to the very important task of the Parliamentary Budget Office doing what is expected of it—that is, providing independent, fearless analysis and accessing information that is available within the Commonwealth system to better inform good governance at a Commonwealth level and, through that, to offer those insights and that wisdom to the parliament.

The Parliamentary Service Amendment (Parliamentary Budget Officer) Bill 2011, the bill that the government is trying to ram through, actually provides no real tool kit for the Parliamentary Budget Office other than the hope and, dare I say, the ambition of a memorandum of understanding that might set out some arrangements about how information is to be obtained. It does not set out any threshold requirements about what reasonable expectations the parliament has of the agencies involved in formulating memorandums of understanding. It does not set in place any default arrangements for what happens if, through whatever misfortune, a memorandum of understanding is not executed or a department or agency is hostile to the idea of revealing its material. There is no fallback position here at all. It is basically saying, 'Knock yourselves out; see if you can cut a deal with an agency,' with no incentive for those agencies to be cooperative, collaborative, expansive and open and caring and sharing about the material that it provides. It basically says, 'This sets in place a framework where you can enter into discussions,' with no real burden or obligation on the agencies to do the right thing.

I am sure the parliamentary secretary would sense a competition law parallel here of an enormous imbalance in market power in that the agencies hold all the material and have no pressure on them to share it and the Parliamentary Budget Office, already gutted in terms of what it can do, what resources it can draw upon and what baseline economic modelling it can refer to—already compromised in that respect—has to front up to a department or agency and say, 'Please share with us some information so we can do some meaningful work.'

It is interesting that the parliamentary secretary has often resorted to the report from the joint select committee's inquiry into the Parliamentary Budget Office. It is interesting reading. It talks about the Parliamentary Librarian, having some experience, considerable insight and practical knowledge about how difficult this can be, emphasising:

… the importance of the PBO having access to Executive agency data, at no cost, as without this data, the PBO 'would be limited to using publicly-available information, and what agencies are willing to provide'.

That was the Parliamentary Librarian reflecting on experience about the need for the Parliamentary Budget Office not to be nobbled by a lack of power to access information.

I would also note—on a night where we hear that Treasurer Swan has got some award, which will no doubt bring a smile to the face of many in this place—that even the OECD is actually supporting the Parliamentary Budget Office having full access to information and economic models held by the executive agencies in a timely manner. It goes on to say:

There will always be a large asymmetry of information between the government and such bodies—no matter how well they are resourced. This creates a special duty to give such bodies full access in legislation to all relevant information in a timely manner.

That is not an MOU. That is not a wing and a prayer, as with the provisions that the government has dished up in the hope of agencies and departments will do the right thing. That is clear advice about the strong legislative position the Parliamentary Budget Office should have to access the information that it requires. Even the Auditor-General went on to talk about the PBO, saying that it 'would require full and free access to all information and records necessary to perform its functions'. There is reference in the report to the Canadian experience and there is even information about what Treasury and Finance thought might be a reasonable caution, and it goes to what the shadow Treasurer was saying—that is, if you are the keeper of that stuff you might be a bit reluctant to share it and that if you have some insights, or you are relying on some heroic assumptions, you may not want to shine the sunlight onto that.

This amendment seeks to ensure that the provisions in schedule 2 actually give the Parliamentary Budget Office the legislative power that has been urged and recommended by the OECD, by the Auditor-General and by the Parliamentary Librarian to be able go about doing its job and to have dependable access, backed by legislation, to get the information it needs to carry out its responsibilities. (Time expired)

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