I don't intend to defend Labor's record ad infinitum and readily acknowledge that public debt has risen to about 25% of GDP and likely to go higher before the trend reverses.
But the mantra that it's out of control, a crisis etc. is just plain silly. That is the political spin of those lusting for power they do not currently have.
Other major developed nations have debts exceeding 150% of GDP and are still heavily pump-priming their economies to breathe life back into them.
As for Abbott's $11b - that would have added to the public debt Labor's created. It demonstrated Tony Abbott's modis operandi; commitments now then duck for cover - the 'hoodwinker'.
Don't forget btw that Kevin Rudd returned $900 to every taxpayer to assist them to get control of the record private debts they built up during the Howard years; a recession-avoiding trade off between low public debt and record private indebtedness.
