Bernardi, Sen Cory

Senator BERNARDI (South Australia) (14:23): My question is to the Minister for Finance. The government lifted the debt ceiling to $600 billion in the lead-up to the budget, yet, as Senator Ketter has pointed out, budget papers indicate that total debt across all government agencies is projected to reach $725 billion. Some of the debt that is being incurred in the budget is through equity vehicles similar to NBN Co in the form of corporations to establish, for example, a $5 billion Western Sydney Airport and the $8.4 billion Melbourne to Brisbane rail project. Minister, what specific criteria was used to determine which spending by government counts as equity and which counts as general expenditure?