australia faces a decade of debt, page-54

LesPaul, yes, Howard as Treasurer handed over a debt to Labor. The debt accrued interest and the debt was handed back to Howard as part of the $96b.

Rough estimates for Howard's portion of the debt is in the area of $36b to $40b.

Labor got close to starting to pay Howard's debt down, but then we had the "Recession we had to have" and Labor's debt increase in the next 5-6 years of government.

Growing to a total of $96b, consisting of roughly $36b+ of Howard's debt and $56b+ of Labor's debt.