{"id":640080,"date":"2026-04-30T07:25:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T07:25:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/640080\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T07:25:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T07:25:14","slug":"state-debt-blowout-to-cost-each-victorian-1400","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/640080\/","title":{"rendered":"State debt blowout to cost each Victorian $1400"},"content":{"rendered":"

Victoria issued tens of billions in long\u2011dated bonds during 2020\u201321 at very low interest rates (i.e., 1.25\u20131.5%).<\/p>\n

These bonds begin maturing from 2026 through 2031, forcing the state to refinance at today\u2019s 5\u20136% rates.<\/p>\n

Major upcoming maturities include the following:<\/p>\n

$10.7 billion at 1.25% \u2192 matures Nov 2027 $14.4 billion at 1.5% \u2192 matures 2030 $19.7 billion at 1.5% \u2192 matures Sept 2031 <\/p>\n

Rolling these bonds over at current rates would add around $1.8 billion per year to interest costs.<\/p>\n

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Victoria\u2019s budget forecasts show an interest bill of $7.5\u20137.6 billion in 2025\u201326, increasing to $10.5\u201310.6 billion by 2028\u201329.<\/p>\n

\"Victorian<\/p>\n

Further increases are likely as more cheap debt matures after 2030.<\/p>\n

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The federal budget forecast that Victoria\u2019s population would increase to 7.54 million by 2028-29:<\/p>\n

\"Population<\/p>\n

As a result, Victoria\u2019s interest bill per capita is forecast to increase to $1,400 by 2028-29.<\/p>\n

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Former Productivity Commission chair Michael Brennan notes<\/a> that most of this rise is already embedded in the forward estimates, but recent increases in bond yields since late 2025 will add further pressure.<\/p>\n

Internal Treasury documents indicate the government is using its narrow operating surplus as justification for additional spending, even as net debt is projected to approach $200 billion by 2030:<\/p>\n

\"Victorian<\/p>\n

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\u201cBy carefully managing our state\u2019s finances \u2013 and addressing government spending on inefficient and non-priority programs \u2013 we\u2019ve been able to use our budget to invest more in \u2018what really matters to Victorian families\u201d,\u00a0 the \u201cKey messages and Questions & Answers\u201d guide for ministers ahead of the 2025-26 budget states.<\/p>\n

Overseas investors now hold at least 23% of Victoria\u2019s debt, and the foreign turnover of Victorian bonds doubled last financial year.<\/p>\n

The Opposition Liberal Party argues that refinancing at higher rates will worsen Victoria\u2019s financial position. It highlights that interest payments now exceed the combined operating budgets of Victoria Police, Ambulance Victoria and family violence services.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAs Victoria\u2019s alternative premier, restoring proper financial management is my top priority\u201d, Opposition Leader Jess Wilson.<\/p>\n

The reality is that Victoria faces a structural rise in interest costs as more than $25 billion of ultra\u2011cheap pandemic\u2011era debt matures and is refinanced at much higher rates.<\/p>\n

Interest expenses are set to climb above $10 billion a year, net debt is heading towards $200 billion, and yet, unbelievably, internal documents show that the government is using its operating surplus to justify further spending ahead of the November state election.<\/p>\n

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Victorians will pay the price of Labor\u2019s financial negligence for decades to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Victoria issued tens of billions in long\u2011dated bonds during 2020\u201321 at very low interest rates (i.e., 1.25\u20131.5%). These…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":640081,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[64,63,99,164],"class_list":["post-640080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=640080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640080\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/640081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=640080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=640080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=640080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}