Treasurer Joe Hockey claims the previous Labor government left Australia with the fastest growth in spending and the third highest growth in debt among 17 top surveyed countries by the International Monetary Fund.

Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey claims raising Australia's debt ceiling from $300 billion to $500 billion will prevent a US-style crisis.

Opposition Treasury spokesman Joe Hockey claims the Labor Government has taken on large amounts of debt while the previous Coalition government left the nation with more assets than debt.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd claims Australia's debt per capita is one of the lowest in the developed world, and Australia is one of only eight countries given a AAA credit rating with a stable outlook.

This article provides a brief analysis of Australia’s public debt. It describes the various ways of measuring public debt and what these measures tell us about the strength of the government’s finances. The article summarises the history of Australia’s public debt, for both the Australian and State governments.