During the caretaker period for a general election, parliamentary parties and independent parliamentarians can request costings of their publicly announced election policies. We publish these requests, complete the analysis and publicly release the costing responses as soon as possible, as per our legislation. 

A formal request must be submitted by the parliamentarian to pbo@pbo.gov.au. To submit a request for a costing during the caretaker period, use the Caretaker Costing Request template.

The Charter of Budget Honesty Act 1998 outlines arrangements under which the Secretaries of the Treasury and the Department of 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.

The caretaker period begins at the time the House of Representatives is dissolved and continues until the election result is clear or, if there is a change of government, until the new government is appointed.