Federal Gov. and Leadership, page-40

‘Earlier in this paper we mentioned that because the ALP Government came into office in the middle of a recession and had to cope with another global recession in the early nineties, managing the economy was, for it, a much more difficult task. The Coalition Government came into power when the economy was growing rapidly and also benefited from all the structural changes introduced by the ALP (e.g. trade liberalisation, increased expenditure on education, deregulation of the economy and so on). Hence, if the growth rate under the Coalition has been higher than under the ALP, this does not mean that Coalition policies are responsible.’

This is from a conclusion in “Who manages the economy better, ALP or the Coalition?” A review of the Australian economy from 1983 to present.