The first fortnight of July (29 June to 12 July) saw a drop down from 611 to 587 of people in Australia entering into some type of personal insolvency, although this was an increase from 553 of the fortnight before last.
But this compares with the average of 844 per fortnight between 1 July 2019 and 22 March 2020. That in itself was a low figure compared with years before.
The most common industries of those 587 were transport, postal and warehousing, health care and social assistance, and construction.
Over this period, 122 of these people were involved in a business, most commonly in construction, retail and “other services”. That was a drop from 130.
The number of new bankruptcies fell from 319 between 15 June and 28 June to 301 between 29 June and 12 July. Over the same period, debt agreements and personal insolvency agreements fell from 292 to 286.
What AFSA now calls temporary debt protections under s 54A Bankruptcy Act are being little used – only 18 between 29 June and 12 July, and 19 between 15 June and 28 June.
Information on AFSA’s personal insolvency statistics and the changes made to address the impact of COVID-19 can be found on its website.
