How stimulating!

Today's chart looks at government spending under the Howard boom years (from January 2002 to December 2007) and compares it with the post-GFC spending of the Rudd and Gillard governments (ie. since January 2010).

The two expansionary budgets were the last Howard Budget (2007-08) and the first Rudd Budget (and subsequent responses to the GFC in 2008-09). 

Update 20 April: In today's SMH, Malcolm Turnbull observed that the Howard Government let fiscal discipline slide a little in its final years of plenty.