Usage
Use the chart to explore Commonwealth fiscal data from 1970-71 to 2024-25.
- Change the year: click or tap the arrows around the selected year. Press and hold either arrow to move through the years faster.
- Choose a view: switch between percentages and dollar amounts. In the dollar view, you can choose absolute amounts or amounts per person, and current dollars or 2024-25 dollars.
- Show or hide measures: use the measure buttons around the chart to choose which measures are displayed. Press and hold a measure button on a touch screen to read a short explanation.
- Explore the chart: click or tap the plot to select the nearest year. On a touch screen, drag one finger to move the selected year as you go, or place two fingers on the plot and move them to set the two edges of a zoom range; the fingers can cross before both are released. With a mouse, drag across the plot to zoom in. Drag with the right mouse button, or use Control with the Left or Right Arrow keys, to move across the chart. Use Control with the Up or Down Arrow keys to zoom around the selected year.
- Reset the view: choose Reset zoom to return to the full history.
- Share or enlarge: choose Share view to copy a link to the current chart, or Full screen to give the chart more room.
- Download the data: open the Download section below and choose the CSV button to save the complete embedded dataset.
Keyboard shortcuts
- 1
- Percentage of GDP view
- 2
- Dollar view: absolute, current dollars
- 3
- Dollar view: absolute, 2024-25 dollars
- 4
- Dollar view: per person, current dollars
- 5
- Dollar view: per person, 2024-25 dollars
- Tab
- Move to the next chart view
- Shift + Tab
- Move to the previous chart view
- Q
- Show or hide Gross debt
- W
- Show or hide Change in gross debt
- E
- Show or hide Interest paid
- R
- Show or hide Underlying cash balance
- T
- Show or hide Gross debt growth
- A
- Show or hide Net debt
- S
- Show or hide Change in net debt
- D
- Show or hide Net interest payments
- F
- Show or hide Fiscal balance
- G
- Show or hide Government
- Left Arrow
- Select the previous year
- Right Arrow
- Select the next year
- Control + Left Arrow
- Pan the chart left
- Control + Right Arrow
- Pan the chart right
- Control + Up Arrow
- Zoom in around the selected year
- Control + Down Arrow
- Zoom out around the selected year
- L
- Share the current chart view
- 0
- Reset the chart to the full history
- Space
- Move the chart key to the other side
- Control + Enter
- Toggle full screen
Definitions
- Gross debt: face value of Australian Government Securities (AGS) on issue, often referred to as gross debt. The Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) notes that total AGS on issue includes securities held on behalf of the states and Northern Territory.
- Net debt: interest-bearing liabilities less selected financial assets, as defined in the PBO historical workbook. The selected assets are cash and deposits, advances paid, investments, loans and placements.
- Underlying cash balance: the Commonwealth's cash-based Budget result. The PBO defines it as receipts less payments, less net Future Fund earnings from 2005-06 to 2019-20; in other years it is receipts less payments. Positive values are surpluses; negative values are deficits. It is a flow measure and is not the same as the gross debt amount or its year-to-year change.
- Fiscal balance: an accrual-based Budget result calculated from revenue, expenses and net capital investment. It records economic activity when it arises, including some non-cash items and timing differences, so it can differ from the underlying cash balance. Positive values are surpluses; negative values are deficits. The embedded PBO series begins in 1996-97.
- Budget result in public commentary: when Australian Commonwealth politicians and media refer without qualification to the Budget being in surplus or deficit, they usually mean the underlying cash balance. The fiscal balance is a separate measure and is normally identified by name.
- Interest paid (PBO series; includes AGS): the PBO table calls this “Interest paid on AGS on issue”, but its note (g) defines it as all cash interest payments of the general government sector, including those relating to AGS on issue. It is a gross interest measure and is not reduced by interest receipts. In the chart's % of GDP view it is shown as a share of nominal GDP.
- Net interest payments: the PBO measure equal to interest paid minus interest receipts. Interest receipts can come from cash and deposits, advances and loans, investments and placements, and other interest-earning financial assets; they are not limited to income from debt-backed assets. This is a net measure after interest receipts, whereas the PBO interest-paid series is a gross cash-interest measure; both are shown as shares of nominal GDP in the chart's percentage view.
- Gross debt growth vs prior debt: a derived percentage:
(current gross debt - previous gross debt) / previous gross debt * 100. This measure includes the 82.4% increase in 2008-09. - Change in debt amount as a share of GDP: the difference between consecutive debt amounts divided by the current financial year's nominal GDP, expressed as a percentage:
(current debt amount - previous debt amount) / current-year GDP * 100. It is a normalized measure of debt change, not the Budget surplus or deficit and not the same as a year-on-year change in the debt-to-GDP ratio. - Dollar debt change: the current debt amount minus the previous year's debt amount. In Per capita mode it is the change in debt per capita; in inflation-adjusted mode the nominal change is converted to 2024-25 dollars using the current year's June-quarter CPI factor. It is not a separate official Budget aggregate and does not equal the Budget surplus or deficit.
- Nominal dollars: amounts are expressed in the Australian-dollar values recorded in each period, without adjusting for inflation. Comparing dollar levels across decades therefore reflects both economic growth and changes in prices.
- Inflation-adjusted dollars: the dollar charts can convert amounts to 2024-25 purchasing power using the ABS All Groups Consumer Price Index. End-of-year debt uses the June-quarter CPI; annual cash and interest flows use the average CPI for the financial year.
- Debt per capita: gross and net debt measured at 30 June divided by the ABS estimated resident population at 30 June. The dollar-basis switch changes the debt numerator to nominal or 2024-25 dollars; it does not inflate the population count.
- Source-audit exception: the PBO workbook's 2002-03 gross-debt and net-debt percentage-of-GDP cells repeat the 2000-01 ratios and do not reconcile with that workbook's own dollar and GDP cells. This page recalculates those two ratios from the reported amounts: 66,403 / 804,444 = 8.2545% and 46,802 / 804,444 = 5.8179%.
- 2012-13 political transition: the end-of-year political fields use Kevin Rudd and Chris Bowen because they took office on 27 June 2013. The official archived Treasury portal linked below records that transition; the current Treasury history page displays a conflicting 27 July date for Chris Bowen.
- Year convention: debt and office-holders are aligned to 30 June. For a year with a change of government, this shows the PM, government and Treasurer in office at the end of the financial year.
Sources
The links below are grouped by role: direct data inputs,
political-timeline sources, and provenance or background context. None
of these links are fetched while the page runs.
Download
Download the complete embedded dataset, including all years and derived fields. File size: .
About
Made with care in September 2026 using GPT-5.6 Luna (max).