Cost of Government Borrowing Outpaces NDIS

Rising interest rates are stressing the federal budget, with borrowing costs surpassing the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) as the fastest-growing area of Commonwealth spending. Borrowing will add an extra $80 billion (US$52 billion) to the government’s expenses over 11 years until 2033-34, even though the expected gross Commonwealth debt is lower than initially forecast in the May budget. Before the mid-year economic outlook released on Wednesday, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said rising interest rates are making handling the trillion dollars of debt inherited from the previous Coalition government more expensive. “But by getting the debt down from what we inherited, we will save the Australian people tens of billions of dollars in interest costs to service that debt. That means we can have a much stronger bottom line, and we can also invest in other priorities,” he said....