Inside Australia's incoming $2.5 trillion sovereign debt crisis

Australia is sleepwalking into a sovereign debt crisis that threatens to saddle the next generation with a staggering financial burden. By the end of the decade, the combined debt of the federal, state and territory governments is expected to reach an astronomical $2.5 trillion.

The era of cheap money is firmly in the rearview mirror, and rising interest rates are set to gouge a massive chunk out of public budgets across the nation.

Australian governments - federal, state and territory - are clocking up trillions of dollars in debts children as yet unborn will have to pay. Picture by Jamila Toderas