I know who I will back in any discussion of the finances of the Victorian Labor government.
Moody's of course, as they are experts in their field. Andrews is an arts graduate and Pallas was state secretary of the Victorian union movement.
Today Moody's revealed its estimate of total state debt forecasted to 2026 at $226 billion. That is in contrast to Pallas' latest budget fiasco at a debt of only $171 billion which by the way is more than the combined state debts of NSW, QLD and Tasmania combined.
Pallas was like a rabbit in the spotlight as he was ambushed on his way into parliament this morning.
"The numbers are wrong, they are on a different basis, we use net debt in our budget not gross debt" were some of the glib lines he trotted out.
Well I hate to tell you Timmy but you are wrong. All Moody's did was include the debt of all the other public sector entities like councils, WorkCover, TAC, Water utilities etc to get a complete handle on the size of the Victorian public debt and it is an ugly, ugly figure that will saddle Victorians forever. No wonder Andrews pulled a sickie today of all days.
Across Victoria the public sector interest bill in 2026 will be $941,666,666 per month
That is $941.6m per month folks.
So if the Vic state treasurer cannot get his definitions of debt right what hope has Victoria got. No Hope.
If Timmy Pallas needs some help he can call me as I am still a practising CPA with over 40 years experience.
Victoria is broke and there is no money to fix anything.
