AFSA Chief Executive address at the 2026 Financial Counselling Australia Conference

Acknowledgement of Country

I acknowledge the Gimuy Walubara Yidinji and Yirrganydji peoples as the traditional owners of the land on which we meet. I recognise their enduring connection to the land, sea, and community and pay my respects to Elders past and present.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today - and for the work you do supporting Australians in financial hardship.

You provide a lifeline to people who are under real financial pressure.

And right now, many Australians need that lifeline.

Today, I will cover 4 things.

First, the current insolvency landscape and what it tells us about financial resilience.

Second, new debtor demographic data we're releasing today.

Third, the system harms AFSA is targeting.

And finally, how your insights - as the professionals closest to the coalface - can help us respond to emerging risks across the ecosystem.

Current insolvency landscape

When I spoke to this conference last year, I said we were living in a complex, dynamic and uncertain world.

I referenced zones of disorder - the Red Sea, the Dead Sea, the South China Sea.

One year later, it's another body of water - the Strait of Hormuz - focusing global attention.

The world remains uncertain.

And that uncertainty is showing up in household budgets: housing affordability, cost of living, mortgage stress and declining financial resilience.

I know you're seeing this as financial counsellors. And so are we at AFSA.

One in five debtors has an asset-to-liability ratio below 10%. Put simply, their debts outweigh their assets by more than 10 to one.

That leaves very little buffer when an economic shock arrives - whether from global instability, rising costs, unemployment or a change in household income.

Personal insolvencies are now rising from the historic lows we saw during and immediately after COVID-19.

We expect insolvencies to increase from around 12,250 last financial year to about 13,500 this financial year, and 15,000 in 2027-28.

That remains well below the post-GFC peak of 37,000 annual insolvencies in 2009.

Having said that, the 15,000 number doesn't include the impact of recent global events, or the potential for rising unemployment.

We are also seeing change in where people turn for credit.

Buy now, pay later is now much more prominent in the system.

A decade ago, around 2% of debtors entering personal insolvency had a BNPL debt. Today, it's almost half. Among debtors under 29, it's 65%.

BNPL only makes up around 1% of total debts in the personal insolvency system, because transaction values are low. But its presence is growing.

Other products gaining traction include payday loans and cryptocurrency. And I know many of you are seeing wage advances emerge as an issue for your clients.

Taken together, these trends point to a higher-risk environment: higher-risk products, higher-risk operators, targeting more financially vulnerable consumers.

Another broader trend that should focus us all is declining trust: in government, media and institutions.

The 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer shows decades of eroding trust has made people more insular. Trust is increasingly local and personal.

There is waning trust in the future. Only 32% of global respondents believe the next generation will be better off than we are today.

There are lessons in this for us all - to act consistently and transparently, communicate clearly and lead with fairness. To be predictable, competent and follow through on the things we say we'll do.

AFSA’s new debtor demographics

As I mentioned, today at this conference, I'm releasing AFSA's new debtor demographics analysis, based on our 2024 - 25 statistics.

This work helps us all better understand who's at risk of insolvency and why, and to develop strategies to support them.

Let me give you the headline numbers.

The average age of someone entering personal insolvency is 41 years.

But the largest age group is 30 to 34 - people still in the early stages of their wealth and asset-building journey.

Fifty-five per cent of debtors are male, and 41% female.

The 3 most common occupations are technicians and trades workers, labourers, and managers. These 3 groups account for more than 38% of personal insolvencies.

The industries most represented are construction, health care and social assistance, and transport, postal and warehousing. Retail trade also features strongly.

Location matters.

Seventy-five per cent of people entering personal insolvency live in an eastern state or territory.

Housing status is also striking.

Almost 80% of people entering personal insolvency are renters. That figure rises to almost 90% when we include people living in free accommodation that is not their own home.

Only 6% have a mortgage. Less than 1% own their home outright.

As I said, these are just the headline numbers.

They are published on the AFSA website, with interactive charts and maps and a range of datasets.

I'm also pleased to announce that we've finished developing the content for our Bankruptcy Basics Training Package, which will become available to financial counsellors in the new financial year.

The purpose is to equip you with a clear understanding of bankruptcy fundamentals, covering the process, obligations, and potential outcomes for clients.

We'll make the training available as a self-paced online course through the AFSA website.

What AFSA is targeting

In a landscape of increasing financial vulnerability, we must all watch for system misuse.

AFSA regulates in a way that is proportionate, purposeful and outcomes focused.

We know we can't regulate for every risk. So, we focus on the greatest system harms, as set out in our Regulatory Action Statement.

The first is the manipulation of personal insolvency proposals and creditor meetings to protect wealth.

Some debtors seek to use personal insolvency arrangements to avoid bankruptcy while offering creditors very poor returns.

Failed publican Jon Adgemis offered creditors just 0.15 cents in the dollar in his personal insolvency proposal.

AFSA intervened in creditor meetings, and the Federal Court has since placed him into bankruptcy.

The second harm is unauthorised access to trust funds.

This is one of the most serious breaches of a practitioner's fiduciary responsibility.

Recently, we commenced Federal Court action against registered trustee Gavin King, alleging he breached his duties as a trustee.

We are seeking his removal as a trustee, including from the estates formerly managed by Paul Leroy, who's also before the courts for alleged misappropriation of more than $4 million across at least 5 estates.

The third harm is one many of you see most directly: harmful insolvency advice and harmful debt agreements.

Many of you work with people who have received poor advice, been placed into unsuitable arrangements, or been charged fees that worsen their financial position.

Last September, pre-insolvency adviser John Voitin was sentenced to three years' imprisonment following a joint AFSA - AFP investigation into an elaborate scam targeting financially vulnerable business owners.

We're working to raise awareness of free services such as the National Debt Helpline.

In addition, the Official Receiver's Office is working to ensure debt agreements are uniformly fair and affordable.

The fourth harm relates to the Personal Property Securities Register.

We're focused on secured parties failing to remove registrations when they should.

Expired or redundant registrations can compromise the integrity of the PPSR and affect access to credit.

What financial counsellors are seeing

I want to turn now to what you're seeing.

Your conference theme is Momentum. And there's a growing and shifting cohort of people seeking your advice.

Over 18,000 people contacted the National Debt Helpline in March - a monthly record.

Thirty per cent of people who called the helpline in the second half of 2025 had full-time work. Another 14% worked part-time.

Mortgage stress is becoming a sharper pain point.

What you're seeing is important: people with jobs, and in some cases assets, who are still finding it hard to make ends meet.

This is valuable information to me and my team as a regulator.

Your FCA report, Who's Making Australians Bankrupt?, highlights other shifts.

Debt collectors and banks appear less likely to initiate bankruptcy, while strata companies, non-bank business lenders and motor vehicle finance companies are becoming more prominent.

That intelligence helps us understand where pressure is building, where conduct may be changing, and where system harms may emerge.

If you see something, say something

I want to finish with a simple message. One you've heard before. If you see something, say something.

My spot talk last year occurred on May 29th, the day after State of Origin, where NSW beat Queensland at Suncorp Stadium.

In that context, I talked about AFSA's role as the referee of the personal insolvency system, ensuring the match is played firmly and fairly.

But the referee doesn't see everything.

Debtors, creditors, registered trustees, registered debt agreement administrators and financial counsellors all have a different line of sight.

You see things we may not see.

You see emerging patterns before they become system-wide problems.

You see conduct that can harm vulnerable people.

You see where the system works - and where it doesn't.

That's why I say, in every conference I speak at: if you see something, say something.

It might be a potential harm. An inappropriate behaviour. A disturbing trend. Or simply a better way of doing things.

Let us know.

You can contact me directly, or your AFSA relationship manager. You can come through our website or call centre.

Let me give one exemplar.

Betty Weule, who I understand celebrates 50 years in the sector this year, has been a powerful and constructive voice for financial counsellors and the people they support.

Betty, congratulations - and thank you.

In my four years as AFSA Chief Executive, Betty has provided insights that have informed our system oversight and education programs.

Her contributions have helped shape our work on debt agreement affordability, gambling-related offences, debtor advocacy, consumer policy, personal insolvency reform and our Vulnerability Strategy.

Thank you, Betty

Other financial counsellors have also provided insights to AFSA, either directly or through the Consumer Consultative Panel.

Those insights matter.

They help us identify emerging system-level issues and improve how our systems operate for people in financial distress.

So, my message today is straightforward.

We want to hear from you.

We're open to your ideas on how AFSA can do things better.

We want your insights into emerging issues.

And we want your intelligence on where system misuse may be occurring.

There's no group closer to the coalface of financial vulnerability than yours.

Tell us what you see.

Help us make the system better.

Help us make it stronger.

Thank you.