Both untrue. Accurate data shows the average budget surplus for the eleven years of the Howard Government was 0.79%. The average budget deficit during the five years under Labor has been -2.38%.
A Treasury paper in May showed clearly that Australia's structural deficit problem began in the Howard years:
The estimates suggest that the structural budget balance deteriorated from the mid-2000s, with the point estimate of the structural budget balance falling into deficit just prior to the GFC.
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Sixth. If you can't say something destructive about Labor, don't say anything.
Hence we find no economic analysis of lower overall taxes. No measurement of the vast increase in the nation's infrastructure. No exploration of the recent impressive rise in productivity. No appraisal of how the disadvantaged are faring better than ever.
And absolutely never any research into how Australia's global ranking lifted during the Whitlam administration, fell under Fraser, rose through the Hawke/Keating period, slipped back badly during the dismal Howard years, but rocketed to the top with Rudd and Gillard.
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About the Author
Alan Austin is an Australian freelance journalist currently based in Nîmes in the South of France. His special interests are overseas development, Indigenous affairs and the interface between the religious communities and secular government. As a freelance writer, Alan has worked for many media outlets over the years and been published in most Australian newspapers. He worked for eight years with ABC Radio and Television’s religious broadcasts unit and seven years with World Vision. His most recent part-time appointment was with the Uniting Church magazine Crosslight.
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