Just a general history of federal budgets in Australia over the past 25 years. After the 1983 election Labor inherited a large budget deficit from the Liberals because it was an economy coming out of recession. By 1988 they had turned that into a significant surplus. With the recession of the early 1990's the budget went significantly into deficit. By the 1996 election the economy had been growing for 4 years, but the budget was still significantly in deficit. In the early years the Howard Government cut spending substantially and ran surpluses for most of it's time in office. I think there was a deficit in 2001. In the latter part of 2008/ going into 2009, the economy appears to be weakening as part of a worldwide recession. It's normal for budgets to go into deficit under such circumstances. So long as surpluses are reestablished during the recovery phase, the budget will have been balanced through the cycle. Going into deficit at the moment ia not something to worry about.
