Bankruptcies & Residential debt in Oz

[Rob Schaap <bantam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

                                                         2001 record
year for bankruptcy
                    THE AGE  CANBERRA, Jan 8 AAP|Published: Tuesday
January 8, 5:55 PM

  A record number of people declared themselves bankrupt in 2001,
figures released today showed.

  More than 26,000 people filed for bankruptcy in 2001, making it the
worst year on record.

  The figures released by the Insolvency and Trustee Service of
Australia (ITSA) showed bankruptcies were
  higher in every quarter of 2001 compared to 2000.

  "These figures reveal the enormous pressure that Australian families
have been under over the past 12
  months," Labor treasury spokesman Bob McMullan said.

  "With record credit card debt in the months leading up to Christmas,
rising unemployment and concerns
  about exports and investment, these bankruptcies figures sound yet
another wake-up call for the Howard
  government.

  While the number of people declaring themselves bankrupt dropped
towards the end of last year, the
  number of bankruptcies in the December quarter of 2001 was 13 per cent
higher than the same quarter in
  2000.

  The ACT recorded the biggest jump in bankruptcies during the quarter,
an increase of 54 per cent, followed by NSW which rose 21 per  cent.

  The majority of new bankruptcies were in the non-business (consumer
credit) area.

  Business bankruptcies represented 15.2 per cent of those recorded in
the December 2001 quarter.

  Attorney-General Daryl Williams said the December quarter figures
showed the GST was not having a significant impact.

  Over the three months to December, less than 0.5 per cent of all
bankrupts mentioned the GST as a cause.

  It was mentioned by only 30 bankrupts - 20 in NSW, three in
Queensland, three in Western Australia, two in South Australia, one in
Victoria and one in Tasmania.

  "On the basis of the figures, it appears that the GST has had no
significant impact on people becoming bankrupt," Mr Williams said.

  In the September quarter 36 bankrupts mentioned the GST as a cause.

  In the December quarter, the GST was mentioned as a cause in 3.4 per
cent of business bankruptcies.