Amid all of the public fanfare created by the billions of dollars in “free money” handed out by the Morrison government since the coronavirus crisis began back in March, behind the scenes all is not well within the Australian economy.

Many businesses and households are doing it tough as one might expect, but when you delve deeper into the fortunes of small business owners, it reveals how truly dire things are for many of the enterprises that are the lifeblood of our economy.

As part of the Morrison government’s economic crisis response plan, it pledged to provide up to $40 billion in...