On 17 January 2017, the Australian Financial Security Authority (AFSA) released its data on personal insolvencies for the three months to December 2016.

Whilst personal insolvencies rose overall by 0.9% when compared to the same quarter in 2015, some states showed a sharp increase whilst others actually fell dramatically.  WA led the charge with a 26.2% increase, followed by the ACT (14.8%) and QLD with a less impressive 0.7% increase in personal insolvencies.

The significant increases seen in those states ultimately countered the decreases in personal insolvencies recorded in NT (-13.9%), TAS (-6.5%), NSW (-5.1%), SA (-1.4%) and VIC with barely noticeable drop of -0.1%.

Notwithstanding the overall increase in personal insolvencies generally, Bankruptcies were down overall by 4.9% during the December 2016 quarter.  In sharp contrast, debt agreements increased by 9.5% and personal insolvency agreements were up by 4.9%, which does seem to indicate a trend toward less formal personal insolvency arrangements.

For more information of all types of personal insolvencies, please contact ERA Legal.