“Caution about being in public places is being compounded by staff shortages to stifle spending across dining,retail and travel,” Ms Timbrell said.
Spending in Sydney and Melbourne is near levels typical of lockdown conditions,despite those restrictions not being imposed on either city by the government. Total spending in Sydney is now at its lowest level since the start of the pandemic on this measure.
“In Melbourne specifically and Victoria overall spending is not as low as during Delta lockdowns and it recovered faster after Delta lockdowns than Sydney,which seems to have been hit harder by interstate travel rules through the last year,” she said.
There have been sharp falls in Queensland,South Australia and Western Australia since Christmas.
Several leading economists have warned the latest surge in cases willlead to some households going through “self-imposed” spending lockdowns to avoid catching the virus or being a close contact. However,the broad consensus was for a short period of sluggish sales followed by a recovery and some of the decline will be offset by online purchases.
Deloitte Access Economics partner Chris Richardson said consumers are critical for the “baton pass” between government support and the economic recovery,though he said one week’s data during a volatile period was not enough to fully gauge the situation.