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TASMANIA
__________
CHARTER OF BUDGET RESPONSIBILITY BILL
2007
__________
CONTENTS
1. Short title
2. Commencement
3. The Charter of Budget Responsibility
4. Administration of Act
5. Consequential Amendments
Schedule 1 Charter of Budget Responsibility
Schedule 2 Consequential Amendments
[Bill 1]-I
2
CHARTER OF BUDGET RESPONSIBILITY BILL
2007
(Brought in by the Premier, the Honourable Paul Anthony
Lennon)
A BILL FOR
An Act to provide for a Charter of Budget Responsibility
Be it enacted by His Excellency the Governor of Tasmania, by
and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and
House of Assembly, in Parliament assembled, as follows:
1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the Charter of Budget
Responsibility Act 2007.
2. Commencement
This Act commences on the day on which this
Act receives the Royal Assent.
3. The Charter of Budget Responsibility
(1) The Charter of Budget Responsibility is set out
in Schedule 1.
(2) Nothing in the Charter of Budget Responsibility
creates rights or duties that are enforceable in
judicial or other proceedings.
[Bill 1] 3
Charter of Budget Responsibility Act 2007
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4. Administration of Act
Until provision is made in relation to this Act by
order under section 4 of the Administrative
Arrangements Act 1990
(a) the administration of this Act is assigned
to the Treasurer; and
(b) the department responsible to the
Treasurer in relation to the administration
of this Act is the Department of Treasury
and Finance.
5. Consequential Amendments
The legislation specified in Schedule 2 is
amended as specified in that Schedule.
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SCHEDULE 1 CHARTER OF BUDGET
RESPONSIBILITY
Section 3
PART 1 PURPOSE OF CHARTER
1. Purpose of Charter
The Charter of Budget Responsibility provides a
framework to improve fiscal policy outcomes by
requiring
(a) a fiscal strategy statement based on
principles of sound fiscal management;
and
(b) regular reports to provide for the
assessment of the Government's fiscal
performance; and
(c) the publication of a pre-election financial
outlook report; and
(d) a process for costing the election policies
of parties represented in the House of
Assembly.
PART 2 INTERPRETATION
2. Interpretation
(1) In this Schedule, unless the contrary intention
appears
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Charter of Budget Responsibility Act 2007
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"budget" means an annual State budget;
"budget papers" means the papers tabled in
Parliament in connection with the Bill for
the annual appropriation of money out of
the Consolidated Fund for the service of
a financial year;
"budget year" means the financial year to
which a budget relates;
"caretaker period" means, in relation to an
election for the House of Assembly, the
period starting with the issue of the writ
for the election and ending at the close of
the poll on the polling day for the
election;
"fiscal strategy statement" means a
statement that complies with clauses 7
and 8;
"general government sector body" means
(a) a Government department within
the meaning of the State Service
Act 2000; and
(b) any other State authority
classified as an entity within the
general government sector in the
Treasurer's annual report;
"GFS Australia" means the publication of
the Australian Bureau of Statistics known
as Government Finance Statistics
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Charter of Budget Responsibility Act 2007
Act No. of
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Australia: Concepts, Sources and
Methods, as updated from time to time;
Note. This updating takes 2 forms:
(a) from time to time, a new version of the publication
is produced; and
(b) from time to time, material in the current version of
the publication is updated by other publications of
the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
"Government" means the Government of this
State;
"Government Business Enterprise" means a
statutory authority specified in Schedule
1 to the Government Business
Enterprises Act 1995;
"Leader of an Opposition party" means the
Leader of an Opposition party in the
House of Assembly;
"principles of sound fiscal management"
means the principles set out in clause 3;
"publicly release" includes publishing on the
website of the Department;
"report" means a pre-election financial
outlook report;
"Secretary" means Secretary of the
Department;
"State authority" means a body or authority,
whether incorporated or not, that is
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Charter of Budget Responsibility Act 2007
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established or constituted under a written
law or under the royal prerogative, being
a body or authority which, or of which
the governing authority, wholly or partly
comprises a person or persons appointed
by the Governor, a Minister or another
State authority, but does not include a
Government department within the
meaning of the State Service Act 2000;
"State-owned company" means a company
incorporated under the Corporations Act
which is controlled by
(a) the Crown; or
(b) a State authority; or
(c) another company which is itself
controlled by the Crown or a
State authority;
"table" means table in each House of
Parliament;
"Treasurer's annual report" means the
annual report prepared by the Treasurer
under section 26A of the Financial
Management and Audit Act 1990;
"Treasurer's half-yearly report" means the
report published by the Treasurer under
section 26 of the Financial Management
and Audit Act 1990.
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Act No. of
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(2) Other expressions used in this Act that are given
a meaning by GFS Australia have the meanings
so given.
PART 3 PRINCIPLES OF SOUND FISCAL
MANAGEMENT
3. The principles of sound fiscal management
(1) The principles of sound fiscal management are
to
(a) ensure transparency and accountability in
developing, implementing and reporting
on fiscal objectives; and
(b) ensure the efficient and effective
allocation and sustainable use of
resources in achieving objectives; and
(c) ensure that policy decisions have regard
to their financial effects on future
generations; and
(d) formulate spending and taxation policies
that ensure a reasonable degree of equity,
stability and predictability; and
(e) manage financial risks prudently.
(2) The financial risks referred to in subclause (1)(e)
include risks such as
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Charter of Budget Responsibility Act 2007
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(a) commercial risks arising from ownership
of Government Business Enterprises and
State-owned companies; and
(b) risks arising from erosion of the tax base;
and
(c) risks arising from the management of
assets and liabilities.
PART 4 FISCAL STRATEGY STATEMENT
4. Purpose of fiscal strategy statement
The purpose of a fiscal strategy statement is to
(a) establish a benchmark for evaluating the
Government's fiscal performance; and
(b) increase public awareness of the fiscal
policies of the Government and
Opposition parties.
5. Public announcement and tabling of Government's
fiscal strategy statement
(1) The Treasurer is to publicly announce and table
the first fiscal strategy statement for a particular
Government at or before the time of the
Government's first budget.
(2) If the Government wants to change its fiscal
strategy statement, it may do so at any time by
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Charter of Budget Responsibility Act 2007
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the Treasurer publicly announcing and tabling a
new fiscal strategy statement.
(3) If a House of Parliament is not sitting when a
fiscal strategy statement is publicly announced
(a) the statement still takes effect from its
public announcement; and
(b) the Treasurer is to table the statement in
that House of Parliament as soon as
practicable after it next sits.
6. Public announcement of Opposition party's fiscal
strategy statement
The Leader of an Opposition party is to publicly
announce a fiscal strategy statement, and provide
a copy of the statement to the Secretary, within
15 days of the issue of a writ for an election for
the House of Assembly.
7. Fiscal strategy statement to be based on principles
of sound fiscal management
A fiscal strategy statement is to be based on the
principles of sound fiscal management.
8. Contents of a fiscal strategy statement
(1) A fiscal strategy statement is to
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(a) specify the long-term objectives within
which budgets will be framed; and
(b) specify the key fiscal measures against
which fiscal policy will be set and
assessed; and
(c) specify the fiscal objectives and targets
for the budget year and the following 3
financial years; and
(d) identify how the fiscal objectives and
strategic priorities relate to the principles
of sound fiscal management.
(2) If particular information required to be included
in the statement is unchanged from information
set out in full in an earlier fiscal strategy
statement, the statement may instead summarise
the information and state that it is unchanged
from what was set out in the earlier statement.
PART 5 PRE-ELECTION FINANCIAL OUTLOOK
REPORT
9. Purpose of pre-election financial outlook report
The purpose of a report is to provide updated
information on the estimates disclosed in the
budget papers for the current budget year and the
following 3 financial years.
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10. Assessment of the need for, and public release of, a
report
(1) Within 5 days of the issue of a writ for an
election for the House of Assembly, the
Secretary is to review the estimates referred to in
clause 9.
(2) If the estimates do not vary materially from the
information presented in either the Treasurer's
half-yearly report or budget papers, whichever is
the more recent, the Secretary must inform the
Premier and publicly release a notice that no
report will be issued.
(3) If the estimates do vary materially from the
information presented in either the Treasurer's
half-yearly report or budget papers, whichever is
the more recent, the Secretary must prepare a
report within 10 days of the issue of the writ for
the election for the House of Assembly.
(4) The Secretary must submit the report to the
Premier and publicly release the report.
(5) The Secretary is to determine the format of the
report.
11. Treasurer to provide information to help prepare
report
(1) The Treasurer is to disclose to the Secretary
details of any Government decision, or any other
circumstance, that was in existence before the
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issue of a writ for an election for the House of
Assembly
(a) that has, or could have, material financial
implications for the estimates referred to
in clause 9; and
(b) that the Secretary could not reasonably
be expected to know about.
(2) The Treasurer is to disclose the details within 2
days of the issue of the writ for an election for
the House of Assembly.
PART 6 COSTING OF ELECTION POLICIES
12. Requests for costing of election policies
(1) During the caretaker period for an election of the
House of Assembly
(a) the Premier may request the Secretary to
prepare costings of publicly announced
Government policies; and
(b) the Leader of an Opposition party may
request the Secretary to prepare costings
of the party's publicly announced
policies.
(2) A request is to
(a) be in writing; and
(b) outline fully the policy to be costed,
giving relevant details; and
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(c) state the purpose or intention of the
policy.
(3) A request by the Premier is to be given to the
Secretary.
(4) A request by the Leader of an Opposition party
is to be given to the Premier, who may then
agree to refer it to the Secretary.
(5) The Secretary is not obliged or authorised to take
any action in relation to a request unless the
Premier has referred the request to the Secretary.
(6) The Premier or the Leader of an Opposition
party may, at any time, withdraw a request that
he or she has made.
(7) A withdrawal by the Premier is to be by notice in
writing given to the Secretary.
(8) A withdrawal by the Leader of an Opposition
party is to be by notice in writing given to the
Premier, who is to notify the Secretary in writing
of the withdrawal.
13. How policy costings are to be prepared
(1) The Secretary is to issue written guidelines for
preparing costings of publicly announced
policies.
(2) The Secretary may, in writing, request the
Premier or the Leader of the relevant Opposition
party for additional information in relation to a
costing of a publicly announced policy.
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14. Public release of policy costings
(1) As soon as practicable after a request in relation
to the costing of a publicly announced policy has
been made and before polling day for the
election, the Secretary is to publicly release a
costing of the policy.
(2) If the Secretary does not have sufficient
information, or has not had sufficient time, to
prepare and publicly release a costing of a
publicly announced policy before polling day for
the election, the Secretary is to publicly release a
statement to that effect before that day.
(3) The Secretary is not obliged or authorised to take
any further action, in relation to a request for the
costing of a publicly announced policy, on or
after polling day for the election.
PART 7 MISCELLANEOUS
15. General government sector bodies to provide
information to help prepare report and policy
costings
(1) To help the Secretary to prepare a report or a
costing in response to a request referred to in
clause 12, the Secretary may request a general
government sector body to provide information.
(2) A general government sector body must comply
with a request from the Secretary within the time
specified by the Secretary unless it is not
practicable for the body to do so.
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(3) If it is not practicable for a general government
sector body to provide information within the
specified time, the head of that body must
inform the Secretary in writing within 2 days of
receiving the request from the Secretary.
(4) The general government sector body need not
provide information if doing so would
contravene another law, but must inform the
Secretary in writing in such a case.
16. Reporting progress against the fiscal strategy
statement
The Treasurer is to provide information within
the budget, the Treasurer's half-yearly report and
the Treasurer's annual report to allow
assessment of the Government's fiscal
performance against the fiscal strategy set out in
its current fiscal strategy statement.
17. Timing of first fiscal strategy statement
The Treasurer must submit a fiscal strategy
statement in accordance with this Act prior to, or
on the day of the first budget after, this Act
commences.
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SCHEDULE 2 CONSEQUENTIAL AMENDMENTS
Section 5
Financial Management and Audit Act 1990
1. Section 26 is amended by inserting after
subsection (4) the following subsection:
(4A) The half-yearly report is to contain an
assessment of the Government's fiscal
performance against its current fiscal
strategy statement, within the meaning of
the Charter of Budget Responsibility Act
2007.
2. Section 26A(2) is amended by inserting after
paragraph (d) the following paragraph:
(da) an assessment of the Government's fiscal
performance against its current fiscal
strategy statement, within the meaning of
the Charter of Budget Responsibility Act
2007; and
18 Government Printer, Tasmania