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.