Senior economist Bill Evans said it was the weakest result since September 2020 which was also the last time the index was below the neutral level of 100.

The survey was held in the end of February and the first days of March when Brisbane was in the grip of the latest flood crisis which led to the fall in confidence in Brisbane.

“The latest monthly fall comes as no surprise,” Evans said.

“The war in Ukraine, the floods in southeast Queensland and northern NSW, ongoing concerns about inflation and higher interest rates were all likely to impact confidence, although the size of the decline is still notable.”

He said the responses to the survey picked up a big jump in people who were aware of rising inflation and two thirds expected interest rates to rise in the next year, the highest level since 2011.

“Consumer risk aversion remains firmly entrenched,” he said.

The number of Australians with more than one job rose 13 per cent to 850,000 in the December quarter, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

About 6.4 per cent of the workforce now had a second job, the highest since recording of the issue began in 1994.

It comes on the back of weak wages growth and rising inflation in Australia as well as the expectation that the Russian invasion in Ukraine could have knock on consequences for the global economy.

The ABS data also showed that wages in Queensland were lagging the rest of the country. According to Conus Consultancy, wages grew 2.5 per cent in the December quarter compared with 3 per cent nationally.

The Conus analysis also showed that the biggest positive contribution to wages growth came from the healthcare sector, followed by professionals. The biggest negative contribution was from accommodation and food (tourism).