From the AFR:
The federal Coalition plans to submit the government’s resource rent tax to the new Parliamentary Budget Office, which has greater autonomy than the Treasury, in a sign of how the new agency could play a big role in the debate over the government’s project budget surpluses.
The Budget Office has the power to ask the companies that pay the tax, including Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Xstrata, to release commercially sensitive information about their outlook for commodity prices.
…The Senate is set within weeks to pass legislation quarantining the Budget Office from freedom of information requests, meaning it has greater autonomy and powers than Treasury as it responds to requests from the Coalition and other parties.
“As soon as the legislation is passed, we are ready to go,” shadow treasurer Joe Hockey told The Australian Financial Review.
“That includes the MRRT and other policies on which the Government’s budget relies,” he said.
Bravo Hockey (though one wonders if this will come back to haunt him) and bravo the minor parties and independents that brought the PBO into existence.
We could get the analysis just in time for the April election, a nice irony as we head into a judgement of those that rose to power on the back of the tax settlement.
