The statement "27,000 small businesses have shut their doors" is meant to fool us into thinking that an unusually HUGE proportion of businesses have closed, and that we are down by that many businesses.
Hearing a big number, with no context, we're coaxed into assuming something is going very wrong.
Hearing a big number, with no context, we're coaxed into assuming something is going very wrong.
Comments
1. The total number of businesses is UP by around 150,000 since Labor took over government from the coalition.
2. The rate of business closures under Labor has been a little above the historical mean... and so has the rate of new businesses starting.
Samples often need normalisation before we can start comparing them.
Not putting numbers in context is one of the biggest sources of political trickery.
You can find it here:
https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/economy/business-indicators/counts-australian-businesses-including-entries-and-exits/latest-release#seasonally-adjusted-data
Oh, and you know how we said the statistic is "mostly" true? That's because they're generally saying "small businesses", but the number they use is ALL businesses.
https://asic.gov.au/regulatory-resources/find-a-document/statistics/insolvency-statistics/
You'll also love 'Punter's Politics' ( @punterspolitics.bsky.social ).
They do tons of entertaining & informative short vids about politics, and have just dropped a fresh one about our favourite topic... politicians lying!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2X7ICTqiOc