Commonwealth Consolidated Acts Commonwealth Consolidated Acts(1) The Parliamentary Budget Officer has the following functions:
(a) outside the caretaker period for a general election--to prepare policy costings on request by Senators or Members of the House of Representatives under section 64H;
(b) during the caretaker period for a general election--to prepare policy costings on request by authorised members of Parliamentary parties or independent members under section 64J;
(c) to prepare responses (other than policy costings) to requests relating to the budget by Senators or Members of the House of Representatives;
(d) to prepare submissions to inquiries of Parliamentary committees on request by such committees;
(da) after a general election--to report on election commitments of designated Parliamentary parties under section 64MA;
(e) to conduct, on his or her own initiative (including in anticipation of requests referred to in paragraphs ( a) to (d)), research on and analysis of the budget and fiscal policy settings.
(2) The Parliamentary Budget Officer's functions under subsection ( 1) do not include:
(a) preparing economic forecasts; or
(b) preparing budget estimates (whether at the whole - of - government, agency or program level).
Note 1: Parts 5, 6 and 7 of Schedule 1 to the Charter of Budget Honesty Act 1998 provide for certain economic forecasts and budget estimates to be prepared.
Note 2: The Parliamentary Budget Officer can prepare estimates for the Parliamentary Budget Office: see section 64R.
(3) In performing his or her functions under subsection ( 1), the Parliamentary Budget Officer must use the economic forecasts and parameters and fiscal estimates contained in the most recent relevant reports released under Parts 5, 6 and 7 of Schedule 1 to the Charter of Budget Honesty Act 1998 .
(4) The Parliamentary Budget Officer must perform his or her functions under subsection ( 1) only for the purpose of the Parliamentary Budget Office referred to in section 64B.