Former Assistant Treasurer Bill Shorten has cited estimates, based on ATO expertise, that there are 6,000 phoenix operators in Australia. It is recognised that this estimate is a ‘global' estimate not an annual estimate of the number of phoenix operators. Therefore, it is reasonable to think that there may in fact be less than 6,000 incidents of phoenix activity per year. However, this estimate is the only existing estimate of the number phoenix operators in Australia. Therefore sensitivity testing was conducted of the impact of phoenix activity on employees using the assumption that there are 6,000 phoenix operators.