SYDNEY -- Australia faces an "insolvency tsunami" when government handouts to help businesses cope with coronavirus restrictions expire on Sept. 29.
The payments are a major plank of the government's stimulus package, which now runs into the hundreds of billions of dollars. They were designed to help businesses keep paying staff and creditors, including those in the "hibernation" period the government ordered for "nonessential" establishments such as bars, nail salons and fashion boutiques.