$20,000 Fine for Leaking Secret Info; Budget Officer Must Be Independent; Budget Officer Must Keep Secrets
Parliamentary Budget Officer Bill 2026
Opposition BillLegislative Assembly
Legislative Council
Assent
Topics
conflict of interest government accountability government transparency information sharing privacy public finance
Introduced by: Sandra Brewer MLA (LIB)
Links to official parliament websites
Effects of this bill
If this bill passes, it means that:
The Parliamentary Budget Officer must exclude Cabinet-confidential information and certain restricted documents from pre-election reports, post-election reports, costings, and briefings.
The Parliamentary Budget Officer is not subject to the direction or control of the Treasurer regarding how the office performs its functions.
The Governor must remove the Parliamentary Budget Officer from office if both Houses of Parliament pass a resolution to do so within seven sitting days of a statement of grounds being presented.
The Governor can suspend the Parliamentary Budget Officer on the advice of the Treasurer, but only if the Estimates and Financial Operations Committee recommends it in writing due to misconduct or inability to perform the role.
Current and former Parliamentary Budget Office staff can be fined $20,000 for disclosing protected information or documents provided by a chief executive officer who requested confidentiality.
People can be fined $20,000 for publishing drafts of policy costings or correspondence with the Parliamentary Budget Office without the officer's consent.
Documents created for the Parliamentary Budget Officer's core functions are exempt from freedom of information laws, and records transferred to the State archives are closed to the public for 30 years.
The Parliamentary Budget Officer cannot be a member of the State Parliament while holding office.
The Parliamentary Budget Officer is not considered a public entity under the laws governing the responsible sharing of information by public agencies.
Parliamentary leaders can request that the Parliamentary Budget Officer publicly release a policy costing or a statement explaining why a costing could not be completed due to lack of time or information.
The Parliamentary Budget Officer must prepare and send an annual operational plan, outlining priorities and protocols, to both Houses of Parliament.
The Parliamentary Budget Officer cannot have any other paid employment or hold another office without the prior consent of the Estimates and Financial Operations Committee.
The Parliamentary Budget Officer must declare any personal interests that may conflict with their duties to the chair of the Estimates and Financial Operations Committee.