Gough Whitlam
1973 oil shock, rising global oil prices, accelerating inflation and unemployment, and the 1974–75 downturn. The new Medibank and expanded education programs changed the mix of federal spending.
Read original background ↗01 / FULL TERMS · CASH PAYMENTS / GDP
How much of the economy did Canberra spend?
Instead of comparing raw dollars from 1975 with dollars today, compare federal payments per $100 of Australian GDP. Each value averages the full period that prime minister held office within the completed historical data.
7 PMs1972–2026
| Prime minister | Term average | Visual comparison · scale to 35% | In plain English |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gough Whitlam1972–1975 | 20.3% | $20.29 per $100 | |
| Bob Hawke1983–1991 | 25.5% | $25.48 per $100 | |
| John Howard1996–2007 | 24.1% | $24.14 per $100 | |
| Kevin Rudd2007–2010 and 2013 | 24.9% | $24.85 per $100 | |
| Julia Gillard2010–2013 | 24.2% | $24.25 per $100 | |
| Scott Morrison2018–2022 | 27.6% | $27.60 per $100 | |
| Anthony Albanese2022–2026* | 25.6% | $25.64 per $100 |
The $100 test: If a row shows 25.6%, that means Commonwealth cash payments averaged about $25.60 for every $100 of Australian economic output across that term. It is not $25.60 of every $100 of personal tax collected.
25.6% vs 27.6%Difference of 2.0 percentage points
Method in a sentence: For every financial year, the official payments/GDP percentage is weighted by the number of days the prime minister held office in that year, then averaged. Because there are annual figures only, this assumes the year's spending/GDP ratio was uniform during partial years. It is not a day-by-day measure. Rudd's two terms are combined. *Albanese runs to 30 June 2026, the latest completed financial year. Pandemic-era payments are included for Morrison. Treasury flags changes in historical accounting, particularly before 1976–77 and around 1998–99.
THE BACKSTORY
Every budget has a backstory.
These events help explain the pressures each government faced. They are context, not proof that spending choices were inevitable or effective.
Bob Hawke
Inherited an early-1980s recession and high unemployment. The dollar was floated in 1983; the 1987 global sharemarket crash and the start of the 1990–91 recession formed part of the backdrop.
Read original background ↗John Howard
Asian financial crisis (1997–98), the dot-com downturn, 9/11 and wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, recurring drought, and the 2000 GST introduction. His term ended before the major 2008 GFC shock.
Read original background ↗Kevin Rudd
The 2008 global financial crisis disrupted world credit markets and prompted a large Australian fiscal stimulus. The 2009 Black Saturday bushfires and subsequent global recovery also shaped economic conditions.
Read original background ↗Julia Gillard
Post-GFC recovery, the European sovereign-debt crisis, a strong mining-investment cycle, and major 2010–11 floods and Cyclone Yasi. These coincided with carbon-pricing and mining-tax reforms.
Read original background ↗Scott Morrison
The 2019–20 Black Summer bushfires and COVID-19 pandemic produced extraordinary health and economic disruption. JobKeeper and other pandemic support substantially raised federal payments; 2022 brought the Ukraine war and inflation pressure.
Read original background ↗Anthony Albanese
The post-pandemic inflation surge, housing affordability pressures and the Ukraine war were followed by further Middle East energy-price shocks. The RBA also identifies domestic capacity pressures; both global and local factors matter.
Read original background ↗THE NUMBERS HAVE A PAST
Full-term spending first. Annual category snapshots second.
See what share of each year's federal spending went to healthcare, education, defence and welfare. Pick a category. Compare leaders. Open the original budget documents if you don't believe us. That's the point.
7 governments included1974–2026Sources linked
The headline figures are full-term averages. The category charts below are single-year snapshots.
For total spending, use the term-average cash payments/GDP comparison above. The five category buckets further down are selected-year snapshots only; we have not fabricated historical whole-term averages for those categories.
The Albanese historical snapshot uses FY2025–26. Your budget tool uses the rolling 12 months to September 2026. Both are clearly labelled.
02 / SINGLE-YEAR FUNCTION SNAPSHOTS
Where did a selected year’s money go?
Unlike the full-term comparison above, each row here covers ONE selected financial year, not a whole term. Each row adds up to 100%. Percentages are calculated from the published figures for that year. On mobile, swipe the table sideways to see every category.
Social security & welfareHealthEducationDefenceEverything else
| Prime minister / FY | Actual total (nominal) | Social security & welfare | Health | Education | Defence | Everything else | Spending mix |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albanese2025–26 | $812.1b | 36.2% | 15.8% | 8.0% | 6.7% | 33.4% | |
| Morrison2020–21 | $651.9b | 33.8% | 14.2% | 6.5% | 5.2% | 40.3% | |
| Rudd2008–09 | $324.6b | 38.4% | 15.1% | 7.0% | 5.9% | 33.6% | |
| Gillard2011–12 | $377.7b | 33.6% | 16.4% | 7.7% | 5.7% | 36.6% | |
| Howard2006–07 | $219.4b | 42.0% | 18.2% | 7.7% | 7.7% | 24.4% | |
| Hawke1989–90 | $87.9b | 30.0% | 13.5% | 7.5% | 9.0% | 40.0% | |
| Whitlam1974–75 | $17.8b | 21.0% | 7.2% | 9.1% | 9.1% | 53.6% |
Morrison's 2020–21 figures reflect exceptional COVID-era spending. Switch the year to view the pre-pandemic mix.
03 / CATEGORY DEEP DIVE
Who spent what share?
Pick a category to see each government's spending share side by side. The bars are percentage shares, not dollar totals.
A larger percentage does not automatically mean better services, worse outcomes or waste. Each government's responsibilities and policy settings differed.
04 / SELECTED-YEAR COMPARISON
Pick two governments
How many percentage points apart were their spending priorities? (Percentage points, not percent growth.)
Albanese2025–26
36.2%
Morrison2020–21
33.8%
2.4 percentage-point difference in the welfare share.
A snapshot is not a tenure average. Individual years can be affected by recessions, pandemics, wars and major reforms.
05 / SHOW YOUR WORK
The original receipts
Every entry links directly to the underlying Australian Government Final Budget Outcome, or to a historical publication reproducing official figures. All amounts in our database are in AUD millions; percentages are derived.
Albanese · 2025–262025–26 Final Budget Outcome, Appendix A · Accrual expenses
View original source ↗Morrison · 2020–212020–21 Final Budget Outcome, Appendix A · Accrual expenses
View original source ↗Rudd · 2008–092008–09 Final Budget Outcome, Table 3 · Accrual expenses
View original source ↗Gillard · 2011–122011–12 Final Budget Outcome, Table 3 · Accrual expenses
View original source ↗Howard · 2006–072006–07 Final Budget Outcome, Table 3 · Accrual expenses
View original source ↗Hawke · 1989–90IMF country report, Table 12, based on Australian Treasury · Historical budget expenditure / cash reporting
View original source ↗Whitlam · 1974–75ANU, Australian Federalism 1977, Table IV-1, citing 1977–78 Budget · Historical Commonwealth outlays
View original source ↗Additional Morrison source: 2018–19 Final Budget Outcome (pre-COVID option) ↗.
Parliamentary Budget Office — Historical Fiscal Data ↗ · Department of Finance — How functional classifications work ↗
FY 2018–19 started under Malcolm Turnbull, while FY 2020–21 was dominated by pandemic response. Both caveats accompany the Morrison toggle. The 12-month September-to-September figure is not directly substituted into financial-year historical tables.
Same percentages. Different eras.
Compare what the money funded, not just the size of the bar. The rest of the story is in the original documents.