The Australian Greens today welcome the appointment of Mr Philip Bowen to establish the Parliamentary Budget Office, a Greens reform to deliver greater transparency and accountability for Australia’s democracy.

“I welcome Mr Bowen’s appointment to be the first Parliamentary Budget Officer, and look forward to the established Office providing greater oversight and public scrutiny of financial promises and costings from all parties at election time,” Australian Greens Leader, Senator Christine Milne, said.

“The PBO was an integral part of the agreement between the Greens and the Labor Party to form government, and will be a great step toward restoring community confidence in the integrity and accountability of our Parliament.

“The result is a fairer and more transparent election process, and an improvement to our democratic processes that has been delivered by minority government.

“It comes on top of implementing action on climate change with the Clean Energy package, Denticare for all Australians, better support for our firefighters and a stronger rights for Territories, demonstrating the benefits of shared power in the national interest.”