Commonwealth revenue and expenditure as a percent of GDP

The base chart:

Which some like to interpret in the context of the macroeconomic and/or political environment.

Explanatory notes: In the first of the back-plane coloured charts, the orange areas indicate two or more quarters of decline in real GDP growth (seasonally adjusted, includes zero growth quarters). The yellow areas indicate two or more quarters of decline in real GDP per capita (either seasonally adjusted or in trend terms, noting this selection is interpreted a little capriciously).

In the second chart, the red area indicate Federal Labor governments. The blue areas represent Coalition governments. The light/dark shading indicates parliamentary terms between Federal elections.