The State of Victoria, Australia, owes
$0
Victorian state debt, in plain English
This site is about the State of Victoria in Australia. It covers the borrowings of the Victorian state government, the interest it pays on them, and what that means for the people who live here. It is not about the federal (Commonwealth) government, which has its own debt, or about local councils.
Like a household with a mortgage, the state borrows to build hospitals, schools, roads and railways. It also borrowed heavily during COVID to keep services running. The 2026-27 Budget puts the state's net debt at $165 billion in June 2026, $176 billion a year later and almost $200 billion by 2030.
The debt is only half the story. The interest on it is paid every year from the same money that pays for schools, hospitals, police and roads. That bill is about $8.9 billion in 2026-27 and the Budget has it climbing to $11.8 billion by 2029-30.
Much of the borrowing was locked in when interest rates were very low. As those cheap loans come due, they have to be replaced at today's higher rates, so the bill rises even if the state never borrows another dollar. The sections below show each part with the official numbers.
Words used on this site
Net debt is what the state owes, minus the financial assets it holds that could be sold to repay it.
General government is the part of the state that provides public services and is funded by taxes and Commonwealth grants: departments, schools, hospitals, police and courts. It is the Budget's headline measure and the one used for the debt clock.
Whole of state adds the government's business-like bodies, such as water authorities, public transport operators and the insurers TAC and WorkSafe. Its borrowings and interest are larger.
Financial year runs from 1 July to 30 June. "2026-27" means 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027.
From a rounding error to $165 billion
Each circle is Victoria's net debt on 30 June. Its area shows the size of the debt.
The interest bill, every year
Money paid to lenders before a single dollar reaches a school, hospital or road.
Scroll right (or swipe) to follow the bill out to 2050.
The Budget only forecasts to 2029-30. After that this is an illustration, not a forecast: it assumes borrowings keep growing by the same amount each year as in 2029-30, and that each cheap loan is replaced at the rate set above when it falls due. It is scaled so that 2029-30 matches the Budget.
What the interest could pay for instead
Every dollar of interest is a dollar that can't go to services. Here is the 2026-27 interest bill next to what the state spends on everything else.
Slide the year forward and watch the interest bill move up the list.
What a share of the interest could pay for
Where the money comes from
Victoria has no separate fund for paying interest. It comes out of the same revenue that pays for everything else.
Where the money comes from, 2026-27
Point at any bar for the per-household cost.
How is the debt paid for? Interest is paid out of everyday revenue, mostly taxes and Commonwealth grants. When a loan falls due, the state usually repays it by borrowing again, so the amount owed rolls on and the interest bill follows.
Why does it keep borrowing? The Budget forecasts a small operating surplus of in 2026-27. But the state also spends on building things, and after that it still has to borrow that year.
The COVID debt levies. Two temporary taxes were introduced to repay COVID debt: a levy on large payrolls and a levy on landholdings. Together they raise a year, which is of the interest bill.
The cheap loans that are running out
During the pandemic Victoria borrowed billions at very low interest rates. Those loans don't last forever. When each one ends, the state has to borrow again at today's higher rates, and the interest bill goes up.
Point at (or tap) any bar to see what that loan will cost.
How the interest bill climbs
The green line is what Victoria pays on its loans at today's rates. The red line is what it pays once the cheap loans are replaced at the new rate. Slide your mouse along the chart to compare any year.
Slide along the chart to compare each year.
Only replaces loans that mature. It adds no new borrowing for deficits, so the real bill is higher. Daily figures are the yearly amount divided by 365. Household figures divide by 2.7 million households. TCV's bonds fund the whole state, so they don't match the general government interest bill.
And it keeps growing
Total borrowings rise every year of the Budget's forecast.
What if the state stopped borrowing?
The Budget forecasts debt rising every year to 2030. This shows how long it would take to pay it off if the state put a fixed amount a year towards it instead.
Slide along the chart to see each year.
Simple illustration, not a forecast. It starts from the Budget's $175.6 billion net debt at June 2027, assumes the amount is paid every year on top of that year's interest, and charges one average interest rate on what is left. 4.3% is the Budget's 2026-27 interest cost on net debt; it rises as cheap loans are replaced. Real budgets also change with the economy, and the state would have to find this money by raising revenue or cutting spending.
What it costs each of us
The 2026-27 interest bill, shared across everyone who lives here.
The numbers behind it
Every figure traces to a public document.
General government and whole-of-state tables
Every bond Victoria owes
Sources
- Victorian Budget 2026-27, Budget Paper 2 and the Statement of Finances.
- DataVic aggregate financial statements and net debt series (whole-of-state figures and history).
- Treasury Corporation of Victoria, amount on issue. Floating lines as at 2 October 2026.
- Revenue by source, spending by function and operating results: the Budget's aggregate financial statements (files 1.1 and 1.5) and Statement of Finances, tables 1.2.1 and 1.2.4. Commonwealth figures include GST.
- New Footscray Hospital cost of about $1.5 billion: ArchitectureAU.
- Market rates, 13 October 2026: RBA cash rate 4.60%, Australian 10-year yield about 5.3% (Trading Economics).
Method and limits
The clock assumes general government net debt moves in a straight line between the Budget's 30 June 2026 figure ($165.3b) and 30 June 2027 figure ($175.6b). Real debt moves unevenly.
For each financial year, a bond's interest is its amount times its rate until it matures, then the replacement rate. Floating bonds pay the benchmark plus their margin. The small indexed annuity ($34m) is left out. Replacement bonds are assumed to last past 2036.
Per-person figures assume 7.1 million people and 2.7 million households. These are round numbers, not census counts. From 2019-20, new accounting standards moved leases and some public-private partnerships onto the debt figure, which explains part of that year's step up.
This is analysis of public data, not financial advice.