The Federal Treasurer Scott Morrision, addressing a lunchtime Australian Business Economists lunch in Sydney yesterday, explained that "the way we have done budgets in the past at the Commonwealth level does not currently make the distinction between good and bad debt."All debt is lumped in together, whether it is for capital or recurrent purposes."Therefore, the Federal Budget - to be tabled on May 9 - will make a "change to the way Government is debt reported", with a promise that it will be linked to Government spending, "by increasing the visibility on good and bad debt".This will be done, Morrison said, by reporting the net operating balance alongside the underlying cash balance. The underlying cash balance does not differentiate between recurrent expenditure and investment in productive capital, including infrastructure. The net operating balance helps to make this distinction."The net operating balance has been included in budget papers for many years, but it has not been in clear focus", the Treasurer explained. In this Budget the Government will also be assigning the level of debt across portfolios. The justification is that "we all need to understand what is driving the growth in our public debt and we need to budget in a way that creates accountability for increasing public debt and the interest payments that go with it."