Policy & claim review

We test the same six things every time: mechanism, legal authority, cost, delivery capacity, supporting evidence and material uncertainty. Political…

Identify the claimed power or obligation, search the current legislation and instruments, and distinguish enacted law from a bill, announcement, guidance…

Locate the measure in official budget papers, identify the portfolio, time period and fiscal impact, then check whether legislation, agreements or…

A costing estimates budget effects under stated assumptions; it does not prove benefits will occur. Read the request, baseline, behavioural assumptions,…

The Parliamentary Budget Office can provide fiscal analysis within its statutory role. Its work does not certify political desirability, legal validity or…

Look for an appropriation or budget measure, delivery authority, administering agency, timetable and implementation instrument. A press conference alone…

Map the decision to constitutional power, legislation, ownership, funding and administration. Shared responsibility should be described as shared rather…

Ask percentage of what, compared with which date, population and definition. Recalculate from the cited underlying values and inspect whether the baseline…

Treat a release as a statement by its publisher, then open the linked report, data or law. Check definitions, omissions, comparison periods and whether…

Define whether the claim means people, positions, hours, net employment or modelled future jobs. Then test the geography, period, counterfactual and…

Specify the household, basket, timeframe and policy channel. A national average can conceal different effects by income, housing tenure, location and…

Separate approvals, starts, completions and net additions; identify land, planning, finance, labour and infrastructure constraints; and check which…

Identify the tax, taxpayers, start date, thresholds, interactions and comparison baseline. Distinguish a lower tax than a previous proposal from a lower…

Check whether the figure is a real reduction, slower growth, an expired program, an efficiency assumption or a transfer between portfolios. Then identify…

Identify the target year, metric, baseline, legal status and policy pathway. A target is not evidence that current measures are sufficient to deliver it.

Check the service, urgency category, reporting unit, median versus long waits, data coverage and level of government. Definitions can change the apparent…

Separate total funding from per-student and real funding, identify the sector and government contribution, and check enrolment growth, indexation and the…

Identify the statistical measure, reference period and whether the figure concerns visas, arrivals, departures, population change or a forecast. These are…

Use comparable police or statistical data, distinguish counts from rates, check reporting changes and population, and avoid inferring individual risk from…

Read the business case or assessment for costs, forecast demand, discounting, alternatives and sensitivity tests. A headline benefit-cost ratio is not a…

These labels imply different durability and access. Check the legal basis, eligibility, funding period, participant cap, evaluation design and whether…

We state what is known, what is inferred and what remains unsupported; identify the missing document or data; and avoid converting uncertainty into either…