Barnaby writes for The Punch (emphasis added):
Let us first consider what Wayne Maxwell Swan said on the 10th of March 2009. He stated that “the emerging economies of China and India are now expected to slow markedly”. Because of this, Wayne Maxwell Swan stated “it will be necessary to increase Government borrowing”.
The result was Wayne Maxwell Swan increased by $125 billion the amount able to be borrowed by reason of the Commonwealth Inscribed Stock Act 1911 and the Loans and Securities Act 1919. This resulted in the nation’s credit card having a $200 billion limit.
Now as we know, China did not go into recession so neither did we, in fact China hardly missed a beat but Australia has now gained the ignominy clearly spelt out by Dr Ken Rogoff of Harvard when he noted the countries with the greatest cumulative increase in real public debt since 2007.
The order of infamy is as follows: Iceland is first, Ireland is second and Australia is third. Spain, Greece, Portugal and the US all experienced lower increases in their debt. I know that these other countries are already in crisis, so we start from a lower base but at this rate that will be a fleeting grace.
On Tuesday night’s budget, Labor sneaked in an Amendment of the Commonwealth Inscribed Stock Act 1911. Here is the most telling statement for where our nation is going under this Green-Labor-Independent Alliance. Under Part 5 Section 18 subsection 1 “omitting ‘$75’ and substituting ‘250’ ”.
Now that is in billons ladies and gentlemen and it is real money that really has to be paid back. If we have all this money stashed away under the lower net debt figure that is always quoted by Labor, then why not use some of this mystery money to pay off what we owe to the Chinese and others who we are hocked up to the eyeballs to.
The reason why we can’t is at least $70 billion that makes up ‘net’ debt is tied up in the Future Fund and student loans.
Of course, the public servants will not be happy when we use their retirement savings, put aside in the Future Fund, to pay off some of Labor’s massive debt. But that is what you must agree to if you believe in net debt. Likewise, you have to believe that you can track down all the students to pay all their HECS back immediately if you believe in net debt. Good luck patrolling the creeks and streams of Northern NSW looking for them.
So we are on the road and racing to serious problems. It is there in the figures. Debt ceiling issues in the US have now started visiting us in their primal form in Australia. I have been banging on about this, trying my best to warn about this, and generally vilified because of it and believe me, vindication is not what I was seeking.
We must realise what is happening or our nation will be like a bad accountancy client oblivious to the mechanism of their financial demise and the associated immense humiliation and hurt that comes because of it.
People generally do not understand the deficit and surplus concept, often believing that a surplus means all the debt has been paid. The surplus or deficit is broadly the profit or loss of the operation or the business of government.
Like a shop on the skids, the last three years profit and loss statements from 2010 have shown a $54 billion loss then a $49 billion loss which will be followed by another $22 billion loss. This was achieved while receiving record prices for our main sale items of coal and iron ore. How long will a shop like that be around for, and if you doubt the figures check their overdraft.
Where did the money go? What on earth have they done with it? How on earth will they pay it back? The answer to the last question is they will not, you the taxpayer will.
You will just have to spend more of your life working not for you but for the government. Instead of working Monday and half of Tuesday stacking bricks, shearing sheep, working behind a desk or on a checkout to pay your tax, you will have to spend more time through late Tuesday and Wednesday glancing at the clock saying more of my life is slavery for their incompetence.
Barnaby is right.
He has been warning of this since 2009. He quickly lost his job as Shadow Finance Spokesman, because he dared to say what most do not want to hear.
Now, more and more “experts” are slowly emerging from the woodwork to agree that Barnaby Was Right.
Barnaby Is Right 
Nice work Barnaby, though I must object to this “put aside in the Future Fund”. I would contend that the Future Fund was always accounting fiction, the product of massive credit expansion inflating government revenues under John ‘The Inflator’ Howard’s time. Not only that if you look at the RBA’s balance sheet from July 2007 you will see a huge drop in government deposits which were collateralised by foreign exchange holdings. I may be wrong (but I doubt it!) but this was the value of whatever US dollar junk the Future Fund was invested in going up in smoke as the GFC hit.
Now you know why the RBA borrowed billions from the Fed!
As far as I’m concerned, Liberal plays the game no differently to Labour.