As the Turnbull government prepares for its May 8 budget, a new study has found its process is one of the most transparent in the world.
A survey compiled with the help of the Australian National University's Tax and Transfer Policy Institute ranked Australia 12th for transparency, well ahead of the OECD average but behind New Zealand, the US and the UK.
Institute fellow Miranda Stewart said Australia was a pioneer in budget reform and provides a good example of transparency.
"But Australia's budget contains much less information than in the past about distributional effects of budget policy on taxes and welfare," Prof Stewart said in a statement on Tuesday.
It also does not contain any analysis of the budget by gender, in contrast to the 1980s.
"The recent Canadian budget puts gender equality as a core part of the budget public analysis," she said.
The "Open Budget" survey promotes the presentation of budget information in a full, clear and accessible way while encouraging public participation.
Australia scored 74 out of 100 for transparency, well above the global average of 42, but received a lower score of 41 out of 100 for public participation.
The survey covered 115 countries.
