Guidance materials
In preparation for the next general election, the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) has issued a number of guidance materials to support parliamentary parties, Senators and Members.
- PBO general election guidance note 1, 2024
The Election commitments report: overview [Download PDF 279 KB]
Release date: 8 August 2024- Template for the provision of party election commitments
Election commitments list template [Download Excel 65 KB]
Release date: 28 March 2025
- Template for the provision of party election commitments
- PBO general election guidance note 2, 2024
Costing policy proposals during the caretaker period [Download PDF 279 KB]
Release date: 8 August 2024
Last updated: 1 April 2025
- PBO general election guidance note 3, 2024
How minor parties and independents can opt in to the PBO’s Election commitments report [Download PDF 235 KB]
Release date: 8 August 2024
- PBO general election guidance note 4, 2025
2025 PBO Election commitments report: key dates [Download PDF 181 KB]
Release date: 28 March 2025
Caretaker period costings
During the caretaker period for a general election, parliamentary parties and independent parliamentarians can request costings of their publicly announced election policies. The PBO publish these requests, complete the analysis and publicly release the costing responses as soon as possible, as per our legislation. Completed caretaker costing requests are available on our 2025 Caretaker costings page.
During the caretaker period, to submit a request for a caretaker costing, use the Caretaker Costing Request template [Download Word 69 KB].
The Charter of Budget Honesty Act 1998 outlines arrangements under which the Secretaries of the Treasury and the Department of Finance (Finance) may be requested to cost election commitments during the caretaker period for a general election. Caretaker costings completed by Treasury and Finance are available at www.electioncostings.gov.au.
Costing responses from the PBO will be prepared in a manner consistent with the costing conventions in the Charter of Budget Honesty – Policy Costing Guidelines.
For further information about these arrangements refer to PBO general election guidance 3: Costing policy proposals during the caretaker period [Download PDF 313 KB].
How to make a request during election caretaker periods
Parliamentarian requests for policy costings and our responses are published during a caretaker period for a general election.
PBO Seminar: PBO and the next general election
In this seminar we explored PBO's role during the eclection and how we support parliamentary parties, Senators and Members.
If you have suggestions about what would be useful content for the Election commitments report, please email the team at feedback@pbo.gov.au.