The Charter of Budget Responsibility Act 2007 specifies the circumstances under which the Secretary of the Department of Treasury and Finance may be requested to cost Government and Opposition election commitments during the caretaker period for a House of Assembly election.

These circumstances are outlined in the Charter of Budget Responsibility, which forms Schedule 1 to the Act.

The caretaker period for the House of Assembly election that is to be held on 20 March 2010 is the first to which the Act applies.

Second reading speeches for the Charter of Budget Responsibility Act were delivered in the House of Assembly on 18 April 2007 and in the Legislative Council on 11 July 2007. The Act commenced on the granting of Royal Assent on 28 September 2007. If you wish to review the parliamentary debates, use the following links: House of Assembly Hansard and the Legislative Council Hansard.

The legislation provides a framework to improve fiscal policy outcomes. The key elements of the legislation are:

• the establishment of accepted principles of sound fiscal management;
• a requirement for the Government and opposition parties to develop fiscal strategy statements consistent with the principles of sound fiscal management;
• the preparation of a pre-election fiscal outlook report by the Secretary of the Department of Treasury and Finance outlining the state of public finances prior to a State election; and
• a process for election commitments made by the Government and opposition parties to be independently costed by the Department of Treasury and Finance.