Arthur Fadden: Treasurer in a golden age

Abstract

Sir Arthur Fadden served as treasurer for nine years and brought down eleven budgets. In his first budget he faced the challenges of funding military expenditure in World War II. Returning to the Treasury in the early 1950s, there were again challenging times as the Korean war boom exacerbated inflationary pressures. In response Fadden brought down the 'horror budget', the first explicitly Keynesian approach to fight inflation. Critics called it 'too much, too late' but inflation was squashed and the economy grew well for the rest of the decade. In many ways, Fadden' period as treasurer coincided with a golden age for the Australian economy.