据参议院秘书长称，预算审议听证会往往具有对抗性——但本不必如此。
Estimates hearings are often adversarial – but according to the Senate clerk they need not be.
堪培拉——一年三次，一波波紧张的官僚手捧鼓鼓囊囊的白色活页夹挤进澳大利亚国会大厦的委员会会议室，等待轮到自己回答有关政府内部运作的问题，这些听证会的内容从令人昏昏欲睡的枯燥到剑拔弩张的爆发性场面不等。
CANBERRA — Three times a year, a wave of nervous bureaucrats clutching stuffed white binders cram into the committee rooms of Australian Parliament House, awaiting their turn to answer questions about the inner workings of government in hearings that can range from mind-numbingly drab to explosive.
这种场面被称为参议院预算审议，澳大利亚上议院议员在会上对主要部门和数十个联邦机构的高级公务员进行盘问，内容涉及他们如何花费纳税人的钱、制定政策以及向政客提供建议。
It’s a spectacle known as Senate estimates, in which members of Australia’s upper house grill senior public servants from major departments and dozens of Commonwealth agencies about how they’re spending taxpayer funds, designing policy and advising politicians.
公共服务部门认为其提供“坦诚无畏”建议的职责有时要求保密，而那些面对含糊回答和拖延战术而感到困惑的人则处于另一方，双方之间始终存在张力。
There’s constant tension between a public service that believes its duty to provide “frank and fearless” advice at times requires that it remain confidential and those left baffled by opaque answers and delaying tactics to basic questions.
与美国国会拨款听证会类似，预算审议安排在五月预算案周边，通常在十月增设一周听证会，二月再增设一周补充听证会。
Like congressional appropriations hearings in the U.S., estimates are scheduled around the budget in May, with an additional week of hearings typically held in October, and a supplementary week in February.