Reviving the Proposal For a Parliamentary Budget Officer

Abstract

The 2019 proposal that New Zealand create a parliamentary budget officer should be revived, but with certain changes. First, the parliamentary budget officer should not be asked to estimate the cost of political parties’ electoral platforms, since that is not a proper function of an officer of Parliament, and the political sensitivity and resource intensiveness of such costings could interfere with the officer’s ability to help Parliament hold the executive to account. Second, the parliamentary budget officer should have a broader scope to comment on public finances than was envisaged in 2019. Third, the creation of a parliamentary budget officer should be accompanied by consideration of other ways of strengthening Parliament’s effectiveness in scrutinising public finances, such as having a member of the opposition chair the Finance and Expenditure Committee.