The total interest bill on federal government debt is expected to add up to about $110 billion over the next five years — about $700 a second.
This is more than the Commonwealth spends on child care or infrastructure, according to figures from the treasurer’s office.
Forecasts for interest payments have improved a bit since October, but this year alone, the Commonwealth will pay just under $18 billion in interest on near $1 trillion dollars of debt.
Australia’s total interest bill is then expected to climb above $20 billion in 2024-25 and reach $26 billion in 2026-27.
In October, the government banked more than 90 per cent of its upward revisions to revenue from high commodity prices.
The budget is on track to receive another multibillion-dollar revenue boost and Treasurer Jim Chalmers has said previously the plan is to bank the majority of those upgrades again.
“More than a hundred billion dollars of interest payments was the Liberals’ parting gift to the country,” he said.
“It will take more than one budget to clean up the mess we were left with.”
Dr Chalmers said the cost of servicing debt was one of the fastest-growing pressures on the budget.
Other major areas of spending include defence, health, aged care and the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
The government will also extend the Medicare rebate for heart check ups to mid-2025.
Heart disease is responsible for almost 1 in 10 deaths and for six per cent of Australia’s total disease burden.
More than 455,000 heart health checks have taken place since they were introduced in April 2019.
Health Minister Mark Butler said talking to a GP about heart health not only saved lives, but helped to prevent or catch the disease before it was too late.
“Our government’s action on this has the potential to save thousands of lives,” he said.
-AAP
