The spike in business registrations has nothing to do with entrepreneurship or economic growth. It's entirely driven by the changes we've seen in the budget around family trusts.

How do I know this? Because my accountant told me to do the exact same thing here at Liberty Bullion. The company is owned by the family trust I set up. My accountant looked at the new tax changes around family trusts and said it's completely pointless to keep the structure, chuck it in the bin, and instead have the company owned by another company.

Now multiply that across every business owner in the country with a family trust. Some people have more than one, significantly more. So this supposed boom in new businesses is literally just blokes like me trying to reduce our tax. That's not growth. That's paperwork.

Good one, Jim.

What the ASIC Insolvency Data Actually Shows

Let's push all the opinions to the side for a second and cut straight to the cold hard data. ASIC's insolvency data is publicly available, and it paints a picture that's hard to ignore.

Between May and June, there was a 23.6% increase in the number of insolvency appointments, going from just under 1,500 to just over 1,800.

We tried to give them the benefit of the doubt and say June is just a seasonally big month, but if you look at last year, the numbers actually went down between May and June. And comparing June this year to June last year, there's been a 5.6% increase. We're only scratching the surface.

The real shock is in the receivership numbers. A receivership is when a creditor is owed money by a business and they appoint a receiver to go in and get their money out, usually by selling off assets or collecting profits. Receivership appointments have skyrocketed by over 300% compared to June of last year.

Liquidations are up 15% as well, going from just shy of 700 to just shy of 800. Now, there has been a 30 to 40% reduction in debt restructuring, which sounds like good news until you remember what each of these actually means. A debt restructuring is about keeping the doors open. A liquidation is when they shut for good. So fewer businesses are being saved, and more are closing permanently.

The Industries Getting Hit Hardest

Mining has been the worst affected, with an 85% increase in insolvencies. Second is electricity, gas, and water, your subcontractors and tradies, with a 67% increase. Third is everything to do with real estate, hiring, rentals, and real estate services, up 55%. And fourth, manufacturing, with a 52% increase.

These aren't big multinational companies with huge accounting teams sending profits offshore. These are Australian businesses going under. Real businesses with real employees who have real families and pay real taxes.

Are We Being Gaslit About Inflation Too?

After looking at all this data and hearing Jim Chalmers talk a big game about how great things are for Australian businesses, it makes you wonder what else we're being gaslit about.

Let's talk about inflation. The official data says the annual inflation rate unexpectedly slowed to 4% in May 2026. Does that sound right to you? Have your bills been going up at 4%? If you ask me, mine are going up at 10% or more.

And when you look at the raw incentives, you can see exactly why the government would want to understate inflation. So much government spending is indexed to it. Government employee wages go up with inflation every year. Pensions and welfare payments are indexed to inflation and increase by exactly how much the government says inflation has been. If they say inflation is lower than it really is, they can increase those payments by a smaller amount than they should and save themselves a fortune. Combine that with how inflation pushes people up through the tax brackets and you can see exactly why the government loves it.

What I'm Doing About It

When you're watching the same data I'm watching, the question becomes pretty simple. What can you actually do about it?

My answer is the same as it's always been. Protect yourself financially. Gold, silver, and platinum all do incredibly well when faith in fiat currencies is lost. In a society with declining trust and rising inflation, the one sure thing I keep coming back to is precious metals. They have no counterparty risk, they can't be printed, and they don't need a politician to tell the truth to hold their value.

What a time to be alive.

Sam from Liberty Bullion