Feeling the pinch: why are so many Australian businesses failing?

Australia’s corporate regulator expects the total number of annual collapses will surpass 10,000 by the end of June, a level not seen since the 2013 financial year. Photograph: James Ross/EPA

An insolvency tsunami has swept through Australia, putting the country on track to record decade-high numbers of collapsed businesses by the end of the financial year.

While building and food services companies are at the forefront of the surge, few sectors have been spared, representing a soft underbelly to the country’s otherwise resilient economy.