Consumers' concern for future the new normal, say company directors SOME of the nation's most influential company directors have warned that the chronic collapse in consumer confidence that followed the global financial crisis and continues to afflict many industries could extent well beyond this weekend's election, describing it as "the new normal." In a roundtable forum with The Australian hosted by the Australian Institute of Company Directors, directors of blue-chip companies including Transurban, CSL, Perpetual, NAB and Nestle said Australians had become seriously worried about the future, especially since a cooling in recent months of the China-fuelled mining boom.