The warm glow that consumers got from the positive federal budget has faded fast, in fact, it hasn't even lasted a month.
The government's business-friendly budget put a smile on the face of consumers when it was handed down in mid May, but the party hasn't lasted.
Two measures of consumer sentiment, out on Wednesday, both show that confidence levels have fallen as people start to fret about their finances.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia economist Gareth Aird finds it strange that the Westpac/Melbourne Institute consumer confidence index is at its lowest level for 2015, despite the expected lift from the budget and Reserve Bank interest rate cuts in February and May.
"Weak income growth is being acutely felt by households and is weighing on sentiment," he said.
"We expected a small pullback in the headline index given the spike in confidence last month, but the magnitude of the fall is surprising and highlights the brittleness of household confidence at present."
The Westpac/Melbourne Institute index showed consumer sentiment fell by 6.9 per cent in June, after rising 6.4 per cent the previous month.
The weekly ANZ-Roy Morgan consumer confidence index, also published on Wednesday, fell 1.2 per cent.
ANZ chief economist Warren Hogan said consumer confidence needs a sustained lift to spur spending and ramp up economic growth.
"It's disappointing to see the boost that consumer confidence we saw around the time of the budget start to be unwound," he said.
"If confidence proves unable to sustain the recent bounce, growth in consumer spending looks set to stay in the doldrums."
Australian National Retailers' Association chief executive Anna McPhee said consumers were reluctant to buy major household items.
"This is not an encouraging sign for the economy or the retail sector," she said.
However, Prime Minister Tony Abbott is more upbeat about the economic outlook, focusing instead on the National Australia Bank business confidence survey.
"This shows that business confidence is strong and getting stronger," Mr Abbott told reporters.
"And if you've got more confidence you'll have more jobs, you'll have more prosperity."
The NAB survey, released on Tuesday, showed business confidence jumping to its highest level in nine months.
The upbeat reading reflected big pick-ups in the retail and wholesale sectors, as well as in finance, business and property services, though confidence in the mining sector fell sharply.
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