The Economic Shock Arrives

Despite the government's best efforts to artificially inflate national economic figures, the lived experience tells the real tale.

The Australian reports that the engine room of our economy, small business, is in real trouble.

Figures from the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) show there were 11,049 insolvency appointments in the 2024 financial year, a 39.1 per cent increase on the 7942 appointments a year prior, and 124 per cent more than 2022.

This makes a mockery of the so-called resilience that this government and the previous ones boasted of. That bravado was based on handout after handout that kept zombie businesses afloat and lulled the Australian consumer into thinking they were flush.

Just as the governments wanted, the punters rushed out. They spent their loot with gay abandon, giving them the dopamine hit, businesses artificial profits and the government the ability to say what great managers they are.

It was an economic castle built on sand and didn't take long to collapse.