The Victorian Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) recently released a report exposing the Labor government’s failure to utilize the PBO for costing its 2022 election promises, despite establishing it in 2017 to provide independent policy costing and advisory services to Victorian MPs. Instead, the Labor government used taxpayer-funded resources to cost its policies.
The PBO’s report highlights its concern with the lack of resources available to the PBO, which has remained unchanged since its inception. It also recommends that the PBO should be the sole election costing service, as the current structure allows government MPs to use the supposed independent and apolitical public service for assistance.
The PBO has suggested increasing the visibility of budget contingencies and providing unrestricted access to all projects and funding in all contingencies on a confidential basis, as well as publishing a list of projects in each budget and budget update.
By implementing the PBO’s recommendations, the Victorian government can increase transparency and accountability to the public and ensure fair election practices. Failure to do so perpetuates the status quo and leaves the incumbent government at a significant electoral advantage. Additionally, the Labor government’s failure to utilize the PBO shows hypocritical use of taxpayer-funded and government-controlled resources.