The net foreign debt you refer to in the opening post (abc article) is approx. 75% held by private sector (financial and non-financial institutions ie/banks and miners) - with the main culprits being the banks borrowing heavily to fund housing investment. The public (government) sector debt rose from -$16 billion in 2007 (Australian public sector became a net lender to the rest of the world) to $226 billion of debt in 2014. The major banks exploitation of the Basel Capital Adequacy Framework has largely contributed to the net foreign debt. Additionally the debt service ratio was recently around 7% - and the net debt has been around 50% of GDP for the last 10 years.
