Parliamentary Budget Advisory Service

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Treasurer, Minister for Finance, Minister for State Development, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy) (14:16): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: The state government has formally established the Parliamentary Budget Advisory Service (PBAS) as an attached office of the Department of Treasury and Finance. The service will make experts available to all parties contesting the 2018 state election and allow them to have their policy decisions tested and costed.

This government honours the arrangements it makes. The PBAS is a key outcome of the agreement between the Premier and the member for Frome in 2014 which led to the formation of the stable, efficient and dynamic government which has led the state since then. The member for Frome called for the establishment of the PBAS as a means of giving the voting public a greater degree of comfort in the accuracy of costings announced by political parties in an election campaign.

This government is committed to improving the accountability and transparency of political decision-making and therefore welcomed the member for Frome's suggestion. It complements other accountability and transparency initiatives by the government, such as the establishment of the ICAC; the proactive disclosure of expenditure by ministers and senior staff; the creation of the Data SA website, which has more than 1,200 datasets freely available to the public; and the globally recognised initiatives of the YourSAy agency. The PBAS costing service will be made available to the current parliamentary leaders, Independent members of parliament and all other leaders of registered political parties and nominated Independents after the election is called.

I would also like to take the time now to announce the appointment of Mr John Thomas Hill to the position of parliamentary budget officer, the chief executive of the PBAS. Mr Hill has a strong background in leadership and executive roles within the Department of Treasury and Finance, including extended periods of service as deputy under treasurer and acting under treasurer between 1990 and 2003. During his distinguished career as a public servant, Mr Hill demonstrated exemplary leadership and commitment to service, as well as highly developed subject matter expertise in areas directly relevant to the core requirements of his new position, including economic, taxation and accounting policy; intergovernmental financial relations; government asset disposal processes; as well as insurance and risk management.

The PBAS will be located at 45 Grenfell Street. It is anticipated that the office will operate until 30 June 2018 to enable a review of PBAS operations following the state election on 17March. To enable the PBAS to provide confidential costing services to political parties and Independents, cabinet approved regulations to exempt the PBAS, and information held by other agencies in relation to the PBAS costing services, from the operation of the Freedom of Information Act 1991 (FOI Act). This will ensure that political parties and Independents using PBAS services can have confidence that their information will remain confidential and not be subject to FOI requests, both during and after the election period.

The parliamentary budget officer will not make public comment on costings, publish any matters related to costings undertaken by the PBAS, or disclose any requests made by parties or Independents, except under the circumstances where the PBO is of the opinion that a material misrepresentation has been made of the PBAS position. This includes where a party or Independent makes a misrepresentation in relation to a publicly announced policy, or releases the costing advice provided by the PBAS prior to announcing the policy as a commitment of that party.

I would also like to inform the house that, to strengthen the independence of the office, Mr Hill's contract requires him to report to the Commissioner for Public Sector Employment in the first instance. While the Premier will be the employer of the PBO and I will have ministerial responsibility for the PBAS, the PBO will be required not to divulge to the Premier or any minister, including myself, information pertaining to election policy costing requests, other than those submitted by the Premier or their nominee.

The PBAS will be staffed with appropriately skilled secondments form the Department of Treasury and Finance and other government departments as required. Employees appointed to the PBAS will possess experience in the provision of economic and fiscal advice to government, the evaluation of government expenditure proposals and government budgeting.

The PBAS will help provide more accurate, comprehensive and consistent costings of the policies developed by political parties, ensuring that political parties understand the cost of their policies and the public can have confidence in the information provided to them during the election process. This government believes in a robust democracy. The PBAS initiative is one more step in enhancing the democratic system in South Australia.