> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.benchmarkanalytics.com.au/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Which political party is best for business investment? - URL: https://www.benchmarkanalytics.com.au/which-political-party-is-best-for-business-investment/ - Published: 2026-09-03T03:55:51.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-03T03:55:51.000Z - Author: Nick Hossack Private sector business investment is one of the hardest economic indicators to fake. Surveys can tell us how businesses say they feel, but investment tells us what firms actually do with their money. When businesses spend on machinery, buildings, engineering work and intellectual property, they are making a concrete judgement that future demand will justify more capacity. For that reason, real private business investment is one of the best **revealed measures of business confidence**, even though it is also influenced by interest rates, commodity cycles and tax settings. This analysis uses the Australian Bureau of Statistics seasonally adjusted **chain volume** measure of total private business investment from the national accounts. Quarterly growth is calculated as the quarter-on-quarter percentage change in the level series. For each Prime Minister, Treasurer, decade and party grouping, the arithmetic average of those quarterly growth rates is then multiplied by four to express the result as an annualised pace. Quarters are attributed to the office-holder or government in place at quarter-end. The results are striking. On the Prime Minister comparison, **Julia Gillard** ranks first, with private business investment growing at an annualised average pace of **12.3 per cent**, followed by **Paul Keating** at **9.5 per cent** and **John Howard** at **9.2 per cent**. At the other end, **Tony Abbott** records the weakest result at **\-9.4 per cent**, while **Malcolm Turnbull** is also negative at **\-1.9 per cent**. **Anthony Albanese** currently sits at **4.8 per cent** annualised: clearly positive, but below the strongest periods in the sample. The Treasurer chart is more volatile and must be interpreted carefully because some tenures are short. **Chris Bowen** tops the raw ranking, but that result is based on just **one quarter**. Among more substantial tenures, the strongest outcomes are **Ralph Willis** at **13.6 per cent**, **Peter Costello** at **9.2 per cent**, and **Wayne Swan** at **6.7 per cent**. At the weak end, **Joe Hockey** and **John Kerin** are clearly negative. By decade, the **1980s** and **2000s** stand out as the strongest periods for business investment growth, at **7.9 per cent** and **7.6 per cent** annualised respectively. The **1990s** are solid at **5.1 per cent**, the **2020s so far** are running at **4.5 per cent**, and the **2010s** are by far the weakest decade in the sample at just **1.3 per cent**. The party comparison is closer than many would expect. **Labor-governed quarters** average **5.4 per cent** annualised growth, against **4.5 per cent** under the **Coalition**. That is an edge to Labor, but not an overwhelming one, and it should not be read as a pure verdict on causation. Business investment depends not only on government policy, but also on the mining cycle, global growth, financing conditions and the broader profit outlook. Still, if the question is when Australian businesses were most willing to commit real capital to the future, these charts provide a disciplined starting point. Real private business investment growth by Prime Minister Average quarterly growth in real private business investment, annualised to a percentage per year. | Prime Minister | Growth | % p.a. | | ---------------- | ------ | ------ | | Julia Gillard | | 12.3% | | Paul Keating | | 9.5% | | John Howard | | 9.2% | | Anthony Albanese | | 4.8% | | Scott Morrison | | 2.3% | | Kevin Rudd | | 1.6% | | Bob Hawke | | 1.3% | | Malcolm Turnbull | | \-1.9% | | Tony Abbott | | \-9.4% | Note: Annualised growth is four times the arithmetic mean of quarterly percentage changes in seasonally adjusted real private business investment. Quarters are attributed to the Prime Minister in office at quarter-end. Real private business investment growth by Treasurer Average quarterly growth in real private business investment, annualised to a percentage per year. | Treasurer | Growth | % p.a. | | --------------- | ------- | ------ | | Chris Bowen | 17.8% | | | Ralph Willis | 13.6% | | | Peter Costello | 9.2% | | | Wayne Swan | 6.7% | | | John Dawkins | 4.9% | | | Jim Chalmers | 4.8% | | | Paul Keating | 2.4% | | | Josh Frydenberg | 2.3% | | | Scott Morrison | \-1.9% | | | Joe Hockey | \-9.4% | | | John Kerin | \-10.9% | | Note: Quarters are attributed to the Treasurer in office at quarter-end. Short tenures can generate volatile results: Chris Bowen is represented by one quarter and John Kerin by two quarters. Real private business investment growth by decade Annualised average quarterly growth in real private business investment. | Decade | Growth | % p.a. | | ------ | ------ | ------ | | 1980s | 7.9% | | | 1990s | 5.1% | | | 2000s | 7.6% | | | 2010s | 1.3% | | | 2020s | 4.5% | | Note: The 1980s result covers only the period for which quarterly growth is available from December 1985\. The 2020s result is through the June quarter 2026\. Real private business investment growth by party in power Labor versus Coalition governments, based on the party of the Prime Minister at quarter-end. | Party | Growth | % p.a. | | --------- | ------ | ------ | | Labor | | 5.4% | | Coalition | | 4.5% | **Method:** Quarterly growth is calculated from the ABS seasonally adjusted chain volume measure of total private business investment. For each grouping, the arithmetic mean of quarterly percentage changes is multiplied by four to produce an annualised rate. Quarters are assigned according to the office-holder or party in place at quarter-end. Coalition combines Liberal and Country-led quarters. Source: ABS, Australian National Accounts, Table 2\.