Australia's national debt to hit $1TRILLION as the Coalition ramps up pressure with a real-time 'debt clock'

By NICHOLAS COMINO, POLITICAL REPORTER, AUSTRALIA Published: 06:28, 21 April 2026 | Updated: 06:41, 21 April 2026 Australia's national debt is set to pass $1trillion, igniting a fresh political fight as the Albanese government prepares to hand down the federal budget. The Coalition on Tuesday launched a 'National Debt Clock', a live tracker designed to show Commonwealth debt rising in real-time.  It claims Australia's interest bill is increasing at $48,489-a-minute, a figure the Opposition says highlights the growing cost of government borrowing. The Coalition argues the tracker gives Australians a clearer picture of the size of the debt and what it means for future budgets, as borrowing continues to climb. Treasury forecasts show gross Commonwealth debt is expected to exceed $1trillion in the next financial year and continue rising through the forward estimates, reaching around $1.2trillion later this decade.  As the debt grows, interest costs are also increasing rapidly and are consuming a larger share of government revenue. Debt interest payments alone are expected to total $25.5billion this year, making interest one of the fastest‑growing expenses in the federal budget. The Coalition warns rising interest costs leave less money for services and tax relief. Debt under the Albanese Government is set to surpass $1trillion for the first time ever. Anthony Albanese is pictured during a press conference in Victoria last week The Coalition has released a debt clock, saying Australians pau $48,489 in interest per minute The Coalition says the $25.5billion could employ more than 200,000 nurses, fund about 400,000 high needs aged‑care packages, upgrade roughly 1,000km of major regional highways, or deliver tax relief of around $1,600 a year to every taxpayer. Labor maintains much of the current debt was inherited. When the Albanese government was elected in 2022, gross Commonwealth debt stood just under $900billion, with net debt estimated at around $517billion, following years of deficits and extensive pandemic‑era spending. Treasurer Jim Chalmers has rejected claims Labor has mismanaged the budget, arguing the government has made significant progress on fiscal repair. Speaking in Melbourne on Sunday, Chalmers said Labor had delivered $114billion in savings and reprioritisations across seven budgets and mid‑year updates since.  He said Labor had identified around $16billion in savings at each update, roughly equivalent to the annual cost of the childcare subsidy.  Under the previous government, he said, savings were closer to $3billion per update. 'We've banked about seven in every ten dollars of upward revenue revisions,' Chalmers said, arguing the government had strengthened the budget rather than locking in higher spending when revenues improved. Chalmers (pictured) defended his debt record saying the budget has improved since 2022 Chalmers pointed to real spending growth averaging 1.7 per cent, compared with a pre‑Covid average of 3.2 per cent, and said government spending as a share of the economy had fallen from almost one third at the height of the pandemic to a quarter. 'As a result, the budget is more than $233billion better than when we came to office,' Chalmers said.  The Coalition disputes that assessment.  Opposition Leader Angus Taylor warned Australia was heading towards stagflation, a damaging mix of weak growth, rising unemployment and stubbornly high inflation. He blamed what he said were poor economic decisions by the Albanese government and accused Labor of wasting earlier revenue windfalls driven by high commodity prices, particularly iron ore.  'This is a government that hasn't used taxpayers' funding effectively and the way it should be used,' Taylor said on Monday.  'That money should be used properly, and instead we've got raging and rising inflation, interest rates that were going up before the Middle East crisis, and the Treasurer's only solution is to blame everybody else.' Chalmers is scheduled to hand down the budget at 7.30pm on Tuesday, May 12.  The comments below have not been moderated. 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