It was the distinction that defined the budget: good debt versus bad debt.
We were told that good debt was borrowed for long-term investments meant to eventually pay off such as the Melbourne to Brisbane rail freight link and the Western Sydney Airport.
Bad debt was for the everything else day-to-day expenses such as running schools and hospitals and paying pensions.
In reality it’s not that simple, but assuming for a moment that it was, it’s worth asking whether there is a way to turn “bad debt” into better debt.
Three decades ago in the office of the then education minister John Dawkins, an Australian National University academic came up with a way to do it that’s been replicated the world over.
Dawkins had asked him to c…
Read the full article at: http://www.smh.com.au/business/comment-and-analysis/lets-put-our-bad-debt-on-hecs-20170616-gwsj69.html
