Reports have outlined that a total of 40,040 new businesses were started in July, and 43, 393 in June 2026. It is not a booming economic outcome as Chalmers has purported, whereby a record number of new businesses have started up,' Birch said. 'Add in the number of people migrating here and starting businesses to secure visa sponsorship through job creation, and the picture looks very different to the "booming economy" headline.' Birch concludes that the self-congratulation within the media by Chalmers is gaslighting at its finest. Chalmers maintains that record new business registrations were not just a new trend, but that business creation had been growing for several years under Labor, a suggestion Birch firmly disputes.