2020 is not panning out to be the Year of Tranquillity in Australia we had hoped.

While the coronavirus catastrophe is global — and far worse in Italy, Spain, France and the US than in Australia so far — we in this country had already had to contend with prolonged drought, cataclysmic fire and then flood.

Serious stress lines in our economy were already visible early this year. The pandemic has now necessitated massive national expenditure to save our economy at levels we would only normally see if we were at war.

But, despite astonishingly generous national outlays to preserve businesses, individuals both employed and unemployed, and to assist with childcare, financial stress is common.