CW - the NBN is booked in the National accounts as an asset. It doesn not appear as debt or a liability. The assumption is that it is a commercial investment of government money which will generate a commerical return. Funnily enough this is exactly what ENRON was doing. Borrowing money for bogus investments and booking them as assets in their balance sheet rather than debt. It makes the accounts look good for a while until you get caught out and have to move it back to debt side of the ledger.
