NZ Labour has promised to set up a PBO, what lessons can it learn from the Australian experience.
In 2011 and 2012 I worked on the establishment of Australia’s PBO. While it is... now part of the institutional furniture, getting it established was a hard-fought battle. I remember late nights sitting in the advisers’ box in the Australian House of Representatives as MPs fought over competing bills, argued over confidentiality and independence, and voted on amendments well into the night.
In this piece for the New Zealand Herald I argue that Labour is right to call for a PBO but setting one up won’t be easy.
It also picks up some points I made 10 years earlier in another piece for the New Zealand Herald on an earlier proposal for a PBO.