As the accountable authority of the PBO, I present the PBO Corporate plan 2025-26, as required under paragraph 35(1)(b) of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013.
This plan has been prepared in accordance with section 16E of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Rule 2014.
This plan also serves as the PBO’s work plan for 2025-26, as required by section 64Q of the Parliamentary Service Act 1999.
The 2025-26 year will be a time of building on solid foundations as we further develop our models, tools and capabilities to continue to deliver high quality costings and budget analysis for the Parliament.
With the 2025 Election Commitments Report published on 20 June 2025, we begin the year working with our partners in the parliamentary service to induct new members and senators, introducing them to our services and how we can support parliamentarians.
Traditionally, the first year of a new parliament sees a lower volume of requests for costings and analysis, providing an opportunity to mature data systems and develop new models in partnership with Commonwealth agencies. We will work to ensure we develop our systems and models in order to continue to deliver robust and timely responses on more complex policy issues across the life of the 48th Parliament.
During the election period, we leveraged purpose-built workflow and information management tools that we will continue to augment to support our work during the 48th Parliament. Our focus on harnessing technology to maximise efficient use of data across our modelling, reporting and data visualisation work during 2025-26 will ensure we are well placed to meet the ongoing demands of the Parliament.
We aim to enhance knowledge of fiscal issues through insightful and interactive publications and as such, our self-initiated products will focus on topics that aid the public and parliament’s information on and understanding of budget and broader fiscal topics. Our regular focused reports and self-analysis tools will be extended with new areas of analysis, topical issue reviews, and additional parameters.
Underpinning these core activities is our stakeholder engagement strategy, refreshed for each parliament and based on feedback gathered from our formal surveys and regular discussions with clients and partners. We will continue to expand our education programs and collaboration with other parliamentary departments and agencies supporting our strategic outcome of improving understanding of the budget and fiscal policy issues.
Our 2025-26 Corporate Plan outlines how a year of investment in our capability will deliver our vision of enriching Australia’s democracy by providing the Parliament and the public with independent information and tools for making sound policy choices and informing public policy debates.
Sam Reinhardt
Parliamentary Budget Officer August 2025
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