QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
Dr CHALMERS (Rankin—Treasurer) (15:04): Thank you to the honourable member for his important question. I think right around the world and certainly in Australia, when you see what's happening with bond yields on global debt markets, this issue is attracting a lot of attention. I think it's fair to say around the world it's also attracting its fair share of concern.
What I was saying in my earlier answer to my colleague's question, which was along similar lines, is that it's really important right now that Australia's debt position is much, much stronger than our peers'. We have lower gross debt to GDP than any major advanced economy. In fact, it's much lower—less than half—than in the US, the UK and Canada.
It's less than a quarter of Japan's. That's really important because, to go to the core of his question, there are other countries where debt is approaching unsustainable levels, but not Australia. Even if you consider that trillion dollars of debt in our budget, the fact is that almost two thirds of it was racked up by the former government.
We've actually made a lot of progress together as a country in the last few years getting that gross debt-to-GDP trajectory down. If you look in the budget papers, there is a graph that shows—if you compare the 2022 pre-election fiscal outlook with the debt position that we're in now, we're in about $200 billion less debt than the trajectory that we inherited.
That's really important. But we also acknowledge that the task of responsible economic management, the task of budget repair and doing what we can to get that Liberal debt down where we can, is an ongoing— Mr Farley: On a point of order, I'd like to bring it back to the relevance to my question, which was: what is your acceptable debt-to-GDP ratio, your forecast; and what gross debt level would trigger your concerns?
Mr Burke: To the point of order, the issues that the Treasurer is going to are exactly relevant to those words that have just been quoted in the question. The SPEAKER: The Treasurer is being directly relevant. I know you'd like a specific number and a figure.
But, as other members have indicated before, member for Farrer, I can't compel the Treasurer to do that. I can compel him to be directly relevant, and he has been spot on with his relevance regarding the question he was asked. I appreciate you'd like a different answer, but I can't make him deliver what you'd wish.
Dr CHALMERS: Respectfully, to the member for Farrer as well, I've gone to debt to GDP. I've gone to Australian levels. I've gone to other levels around the world.
The reason that this is especially topical right now is that, if you look at US Treasury bond yields for 10 years, they breached five per cent again today. That is a source of considerable concern for policymakers, decision-makers, governments and the private sector right around the world. It reflects a number of things.
It reflects the fact that the war in Iran is dragging on longer than anyone would like from an economic point of view. It's reflecting the fact that a lot of other countries—not Australia, but a lot of other countries—are carrying levels of debt that are approaching unsustainable levels. It reflects the fact that interest rate expectations have gone up around the world in every major advanced economy.
They now expect a rate rise. It reflects the fact that the private sector, including the hyperscalers in the AI and technology landscape, are competing more substantially to raise capital on these markets. And it reflects all of the uncertainty in our economy—geopolitical uncertainty and economic uncertainty as well.
The question that he asked is a really important one. Australia's position is better than our peers'. (Time expired)