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Government debt

Yesterday

Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers.

Chalmers’ broken budget rule is a slippery slope in a world of debt

Australia has relatively moderate federal debt levels compared with most countries. But the picture is not so benign if ballooning state government debts are added.

March

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Treasurer Jim Chalmers shake hands on budget day.

Election a battle between ‘worse off’ and ‘getting better’

Australia is in a worse position today than three years ago – an economic position that is going to be difficult to sell to voters.

Neither Labor nor the Coalition is offering a credible plan to rebuild the fiscal buffer that may be needed to absorb the global economic turmoil that Trump’s trade war may spark.

Wish list for a budget week that was never meant to be

Instead of talking about big reforms so near to a tight election, both major parties will probably spend the week trading political blows over cost-of-living concerns.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese

Five years after Covid, Australia is unprepared for next global storm

Neither major party has offered a credible path for “growing the pie”, fixing the budget and preparing the nation’s military for a new era of disruption.

February

Elon Musk says it’s possible to halve the US deficit, and in the process cut interest payments and boost growth.

Why Musk’s cost-cutting drive won’t stop this Aussie buying gold

First Eagle Investments portfolio manager Matthew McLennan is not convinced DOGE’s efforts will be enough to slash the fiscal deficit and keep a lid on inflation.

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The ACT government has a budget deficit of nearly $1 billion and is danger of joining Victoria as the country’s most financially struggling jurisdiction.

ACT risks Victoria-style downgrade as deficit blows out to $1b

S&P has told the ACT it must turn its finances around within a year or two, or else it will join Victoria as the lowest-rated Australian government.

Queensland Finance Minister Ros Bates and Treasurer David Janetzki. The LNP government has delivered its first fiscal update since coming into power late last year.

Can Queensland dig itself out of a $109 billion budget black hole?

Successive governments have announced, but never really stuck to, top-down fiscal rules designed to ensure the state’s finances don’t get out of control.

January

Hedge funds are betting a second term for Donald Trump could help spur gold prices even higher.

Trump’s $50trn debt problem has Aussie hedge funds rushing for gold

Some investors are betting the precious metal will soar as President Trump fails to arrest America’s spiralling public debt.

Queensland’s debt will skyrocket to $218 billion by 2028, based on the mid-year budget published on Thursday.

‘The numbers are breathtaking’: Qld’s interest bill worth 11 new hospitals

The states’ debt-servicing costs will probably continue to skyrocket as investors demand compensation for their fiscally reckless ways.

Treasurer David Janetzki says measures to rein in the budget will be necessary.

Debt explosion pushes Queensland to cusp of rating downgrade

Queensland is at risk of a credit rating downgrade as early as this year, after Treasurer David Janetzki released a dire fiscal update from the new LNP government.

Total US government debt held by the public is projected to reach 107 per cent of GDP by 2029, exceeding the 106 per cent record set in 1946, just after the end of World War II.

US debt to reach 107pc of GDP by 2029: CBO estimates

“The fiscal situation is daunting, the debt trajectory is unsustainable,” Congressional Budget Office director Phillip Swagel said in a new 10-year outlook.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers.

Nine red flags for budget watchers

Labor has a choice: deliver a pre-election budget that builds Australia’s future or keep sailing blindly towards another decade of debts and deficits.

NSW nurses demonstrating for a pay rise in November.

Wage rises to blow out ‘unrealistic’ state budgets: S&P

Psychiatrists in NSW and teachers, nurses and police in Queensland are the latest essential workers to demand significant wage rises from state governments.

Having jettisoned the fiscal guardrails of his predecessors, Jim Chalmers has lost control of the budget.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has lost control of the budget

The Albanese government’s decisions on net have added to the national debt as a share of GDP well over three times that of the former Coalition government over the same period.

December 2024

Trump’s DOGE is a good first step toward stopping the rot.

I’m the guy Barron’s called the Bond King. Here’s why US debt is a problem

There is the real possibility of a quasi-default by the Treasury and few are likely to be spared from the resulting upheaval.

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Treasurer Jim Chalmers.

Coalition nuclear fund would deepen $90b off-budget blowout: Chalmers

A record $90 billion of spending over four years will be obscured in off-budget funds, but Treasurer Jim Chalmers says it would be worse under the Coalition.

After Pallas blowout, business wants Victoria back on track

Outgoing Victorian treasurer Tim Pallas says his greatest regret is that financial constraints meant his government could not afford to spend even more money.

China’s intention to deliver more stimulus has kept iron ore prices above $US100.

China slowdown to rip $8.5b from federal budget: Chalmers

The treasurer’s downbeat assessment came despite Beijing last week announcing plans to stoke the country’s slowing economy next year with a “moderately loose” monetary policy.

Victoria is now the fourth most indebted advanced economy state government outside the US. It may soon find there’s a fine line between nation-building and overbuilding.

How Victoria became one of the rich world’s most indebted states

Victoria is the fourth-most indebted advanced economy state government outside the US. It may soon find there’s a fine line between nation-building and overbuilding.

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Victoria’s asset sale; MinRes’ gag request; Wesfarmers’ rates alert

Read everything that’s happened in the news so far today.

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