Senate Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee, , 1:58:31 to 2:04:07
The Parliamentary Budget Office presents its annual report, noting a significant increase in demand for costing services and high staff engagement.
Topics: Government spending, Integrity
Speakers: Sam Reinhardt, Hon James McGrath, Senator Karen Grogan, Unknown Speaker
Welcome, Mr. Reinhardt, and your colleagues. um uh various offices of the parliamentary budget office. Would you care to make an opening statement?
>> Uh chair, I would like to make a very short opening statement.
>> Excellent. Please go right ahead.
>> Right. Uh so good morning chair, deputy chair, and members of the committee and thank you for the opportunity to make a brief opening statement. So first on behalf of the PBO staff I want to express our deep sadness following the attack on Helen Haines and extend our support to her family herself and her staff. We recognize that Dr. Haines import played an important role in parliamentary accountability and transparency and her commitment to the role of the PBO as the only independent member to have all her commitments costed in the last two election commitments report. In our daily work with parliamentarians, we see their dedication to serving Australia and we also want to take this opportunity to acknowledge that and how much members and senators commit to So the PBO recently released our annual our 2526 annual report. It shows demand for our services remains high. The number of requests received is 20% higher at the same stage of the 47th parliament. And looking further back, both demand and output have tripled since the 2019 2019 20 parliament, which is the equivalent parliament period in the 46 parliament. To manage our workload, we work closely with parties and parliamentarians to understand their priorities, keep them informed of progress, and direct our resources to urgent requests. This sometimes means placing other requests on hold so that time-sensitive work can proceed. We aim to be transparent and fair in managing these priorities while maintaining confidentiality. We will continue to pursue efficiencies without compromising the quality, independence or confidentiality of our advice. We are also making good progress on implementing the recommendations of the independent review of the PBO. The review was commissioned by the joint standing committee joint committee on public accounts and audit and completed in March this year. The review found the PBO is performing well and is held in high regard while identifying practical opportunities to improve our engagement, transparency, and impact. We provided our formal response to the JCPAA on 31 August this year and accepted all recommendations directed to the PBO. Actions already taken or underway include clearer communication with requesters, stronger engagement with parties. They also include the introduction of policy costing analysis work, a more accessible budget snapshot shot, and the release of our guide to the 2026 intergenerational report during the remainder of this year, this financial year, will continue to implement the recommendations of the review. Finally, I would like to note that the PBO's 2026 APS census results where 95% of staff participated and the results indicate a highly engaged and purpose-driven organization. staff understand and support the PBO's purpose and objectives. They understand how their roles contribute to outcomes for parliament. At the same time, the reported they reported high workloads, competing priorities, and tight time frames reflecting the strong demand for our services. Ensuring priorities are clear and workloads remain sustainable will continue to be an important focus of the leadership team. And I would like to acknowledge your professionalism, commitment, and sustained effort of PBO staff. Thank you, and we welcome
questions. Thank you very much. Um, we'll go to Senator McGrath.
>> Thank you. Thank you for the work uh that you and your your team do. I just allow you to do a bit of advertising here in a way. Can you confirm that every senator and MP elected to the Australian Parliament has access to the PBO to have their policies costed regardless of their party affiliation or status?
>> That's correct.
So you can cost um policies from parties as well as independent senators and members.
>> That is correct.
>> Uh so if uh an a member or senator has said that they do not have access to your services, that is not that is a factually incorrect statement.
>> That is a factually incorrect statement.
And you also run outreach programs about the services of the PBO. And I think I recall seeing lots of emails from from your team. Is that correct? Which is a good thing by the way.
>> We do we do a lot of outreach. We also offer to budget briefings um engagement with both u members and senators but also their staff. If staff are after information on budget um how the budget work, how to read the budget. Uh it is the case that in the election commitment report it is a different approach in that parties designated parties that is parties with five or more members going into caretaker are included in our election commitments report that is we are required under legislation to report on their commitments for for independents or parties with less than five members they can as Dr. Haines did elect to be part of that election commitments report.