PARLIAMENTARY REPORT
AUSTRALIA
dissolved by the Governor- General”. There is no fixed date for a Federal Election. It is the Prime Minister’s prerogative as to when to advise the Governor- General to dissolve the House of Representatives and prorogue the Parliament. Prime Ministers have normally used this process as a tactical opportunity to select a date which best advances their chance of re-election. On 30 January the Prime
Minister announced that she would advise the Governor- General to dissolve the House of Representatives on 12 August
and issue writs for an election on 14 September for the House of Representatives and half of the Senate. The Prime Minister stated that
“I can act so Australia’s Parliament and government serves their full three-year term and it is clear and certain when the election will be held. So I today announce that later this year, I will advise the Governor-General to dissolve the House of Representatives with writs to be issued on Monday the 12th of August for an election for the House and half of the Senate, to be held on Saturday the 14th
of September. I do not do so to start the nation’s longest election campaign. Quite the opposite, it should be clear to all which are the days of governing and which are the days of campaigning. Announcing the election date now enables individuals and business, investors and consumers, to plan their year. But the benefit of fixing the date now is not just the end of speculation about election timing. It gives shape and order to the year and enables it to be one not of fevered campaigning, but of cool and reasoned deliberation”. The Leader of the Opposition,
THIRD READING: AUSTRALIA
Freedom of Information Amendment (Parliamentary Budget Office) Bill 2012 The Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) commenced operation in July 2012. It will prepare election policy costings at the request of authorized party representatives and Independent members of Parliament, and prepare policy costings outside the caretaker period at the request of individual senators and members. In addition, the PBO will on its own initiative conduct and publish research on the budget and fiscal policy settings. The then Attorney-General Hon. Nicola Roxon, MP, said that “with the creation of the PBO all senators and members, for the first time, have access to independent and non-partisan budget analysis and policy costings over the entire course of the three-year electoral cycle”. The PBO is an exempt agency under the Freedom
of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) However, the FOI Act “does not currently provide a specific exemption for documents relating to requests from the Parliamentary Budget Office that may be held by departments and other agencies”. Ms Roxon noted that “as a result, requests for information made to agencies by the PBO, and information provided to the PBO by agencies, may not be as fully protected from release under the Freedom of Information Act as they ought to be to give effect to the PBO’s special position”. Ms Roxon advised that ‘the Bill amends the
Freedom of Information Act to provide an exemption for information held by departments and agencies that relates to a confidential request to the PBO”. In addition,
84 | The Parliamentarian | 2013: Issue One
the Bill also amends section 25 of the Freedom of Information Act to provide that an agency is not required to give information as to the existence or non-existence of a document where it is exempt under these new provisions”. She concluded that “these reforms will protect the confidentiality of the PBO’s work and ensure that it will operate as it was intended when the Parliament expressly exempted the PBO from the Freedom of Information Act”. The Shadow Attorney-General, Sen. the Hon George
Brandis, MP, noted that “in May 2009, the then Leader of the Opposition, Hon. Malcolm Turnbull, MP, first called for the establishment of the PBO, modeled on the U.S. Congressional Budget Office”. Senator Brandis pointed out that the initiative was initially opposed by the Labor government. In relation to the FOI amendment, Senator Brandis commented that “we in the opposition of course take a more expansive view of freedom-of- information laws than the government; nevertheless, we are persuaded that, in certain circumstances, the protection of confidentiality in a process such as this is a more important policy consideration than freedom of information. The PBO’s work could not be carried out effectively if its clients did not enjoy a degree of confidentiality. So, for that reason, we agree with the government that this is a necessary measure. Once the Bill is passed, the coalition will finally have confidence that the confidentiality of any policy submitted to the PBO for costing, up until the signing of the writs for a general election, will be fully preserved”.
Hon. Tony Abbott, MP, welcomed the announcement of the election date. He commented that “this election will be about trust. Who do you trust to reduce cost of living pressures? Who do you trust to boost small business and to boost job security and who do you trust to secure our borders? That’s what this election will be all about. The Coalition is ready. We are so ready that we have already launched our Real Solutions plan and we are already campaigning on it. The choice before the Australian people could not be clearer. It’s more tax or less. It’s more regulation or less. It’s less competence or more. It’s less freedom or more. That’s the clear choice facing the Australian people on 14 September”.
Senate Budget Estimates – 11 to 15 February 2013 The Senate Budget Estimates conducted between 11-15 February provided another opportunity for Senators to scrutinize executive government over its performance.
The official commencement of the election period for the purpose of the caretaker convention The Senate Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee scrutinised representatives of the Department of Prime Minister Cabinet (DPC) about the start of the caretaker conventions as result of the Prime Minister’s announcement of the election date for 14 September. The basic caretaker conventions require government to avoid implementing major policy initiatives, making appointments of significance or entering major contracts or undertakings during the caretaker period and to avoid involving departmental officers in election activities. The 7th Edition of the Cabinet Handbook states that “the caretaker conventions
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