Parliamentary Budget Office

A Parliamentary Budget Officer is appointed at each election.

Dr Michael Warlters was appointed as the Parliamentary Budget Officer for the period from 18 August 2026 to June 2027.

Under the Parliamentary Budget Officer Act 2010, the Parliamentary Budget Officer is to be appointed as soon as practicable after 1 September of the year immediately before a State general election is due to be held. The Parliamentary Budget Officer term is specified at their appointment and cannot extend for more than 3 months after the State general election.

The Parliamentary Budget Officer is supported by a small team of professionals, including staff seconded from Parliament, NSW Government departments, and consultants where necessary.

An election policy costing sets out the impact of a proposed election policy on the budget for the current year and the next three years (the forward estimates).

The PBO will report on the impact of a policy on the following measures for the general government sector: net operating result, net capital expenditure, net lending/borrowing and net financial liabilities; and will also report on the impact on net financial liabilities for the total state sector.

An important aspect of election costings is that they rely on assumptions and information provided by requesting members.

The cost of a policy will often depend on assumed responses to the policy (for example, levels of take up of a spending program, compliance with revenue measures). In developing the costing, the PBO will examine assumptions for reasonableness, and will seek to clarify them with the relevant parliamentary leader, if necessary.

The PBO will not express a view on the merits of election policies, as the role of the PBO is not to develop polices but to cost them.

The Parliamentary Budget Officer is appointed as an independent officer of Parliament. This means that the Parliamentary Budget Officer is accountable to Parliament rather than the Executive Government.

The Officer is appointed by the Presiding Officers of the Parliament, from a short list of candidates recommended by a panel comprising of the Ombudsman, the Information Commissioner and the Chairperson of the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal.

Under the Act, requesting members must be members of the current Parliament, must be facing election in 2027 and must belong to one of the following groups:

• the parliamentary leaders, who are the Premier and the Leader of the Opposition
• members of minor parties who are (a) the sole party representative within Parliament, (b) the recognised leader of the minor party, or (c) formally nominated by the minor party
• independent members contesting election in 2027.

There is no limit on the number of policies that can be costed for parliamentary leaders.

Minor parties and eligible independent members can each request up to two election policy costings, which must be requested before the end of 1 December 2026. 

The PBO costings aim to be as accurate as possible given the information available and the assumptions provided by the requesting member.

The PBO has power under the Act to request information from other NSW government agencies to assist in the costing process.  If there are no changes in the policy or supporting data after the election, the costing will be an accurate reflection of the impact on the budget estimates.

This estimate may not always be the same as the final cost once the policy is implemented. Where there is a range of possible budget outcomes, the costing will endeavor to depict this.

Election policy costings will be published by the Parliamentary Budget Officer after the Officer has received notification from the requesting member that the policy has been publicly announced.

A budget impact statement includes a summary of the impact on the budget of all costed policies for the Government and Opposition. It provides an overview of the total effect on the budget for the current financial year and the next three years (the forward estimates).

The PBO will publish the budget impact statement for the Government and Opposition on the eight last day before the election.

The PBO may also release revisions to a budget impact statement if further costings are completed after publication.

After the election the Parliamentary Budget Officer is required by the Parliamentary Budget Officer Act 2010 to provide a post-election report to the Public Accounts Committee. The report will review the activities of the Office during the election and may include recommendations on the operational arrangements and activities of the Office in future elections.

Once the Parliamentary Budget Officer's terms of appointment concludes, the Office will cease operations until the period before next State general election.

Information about previous elections, for which the Parliamentary Budget Office prepared election costings and budget impact statements, can be found on the website.