Budget Performance Cabinet Committee

The Hon. T.T. NGO (15:00): My question is to the Treasurer. Has the Treasurer established a cabinet budget subcommittee; has the committee met; how regularly is it meeting; and what are the committee's terms of reference?

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (15:00): Yes, there is a budget committee of cabinet. Yes, it has met on—I will have to check—probably one or two occasions. It will meet, obviously, much more frequently between now and the first week of September, which is the due date for the budget. Its primary work will be, clearly, as with past budget committees by whatever title or name they went, in terms of the key decisions to be taken in relation to both the budget and, once the budget has been established, monitoring and maintaining the integrity of the budget, and obviously considering any further requests from ministers and/or departments for funding between budget periods.

They are the broad parameters of the budget cabinet committee. On my understanding of past budget cabinet committees, their parameters or terms of reference are broadly similar to the budget cabinet committee that operated under the former Labor government.