Australia is considering changes to the way it taxes pension funds and targeting the tax practices of multinationals, as Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s conservatives struggle to shore up the country’s finances amid deep hostility to proposed austerity measures, The Wall Street Journal reported. On Monday, Mr. Abbott called for discussion on how an aging population was progressively shrinking income-tax receipts and urged the opposition Labor party to cooperate with reforms needed to steer Australia through the end of a mining boom that once powered the economy.

Australia plans to join an Asian infrastructure bank led by China, the government announced on Sunday, reversing an earlier decision taken at the urging of the United States not to become a member. The move made Australia the latest of a list of major American allies to sign up, the International New York Times reported. The office of Prime Minister Tony Abbott said in a statement that Australia still had concerns about the management of the bank but recognized the pressing needs for infrastructure in Asia.

Australia's IFM Investors said on Thursday it had agreed to pay $5.73 billion to buy the bankrupt operator of a major U.S. toll road, making its biggest overseas investment, Reuters reported. IFM Investors, which is owned by 30 Australian pension funds and manages $43 billion, said the purchase of ITR Concession Co LLC gave its investors access to core infrastructure in the world's largest capital market.

Disgraced liquidator Stuart Ariff will be released on parole on March 25 after serving four years in jail on 19 counts of criminal fraud, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. Ariff, who triggered a Senate inquiry into the insolvency industry in 2010 and a set of recommendations that called for an overhaul of the sector, will serve the remainder of his six-year sentence supervised on parole until it ends in September 2017.

A family-owned strawberry producer that has supplied fresh berries to Coles supermarkets for more than 40 years has collapsed into voluntary administration. Victorian-based Oz Fresh Farms called in administrators Ernst & Young on February 24, with Philip Campbell-Wilson and Adam Nikitins appointed to manage the administration process. Campbell-Wilson told SmartCompany Oz Fresh Farms is still trading and he intends to keep trading the business throughout EY’s appointment.

High-profile fashion designer Josh Goot has placed his eponymous label in voluntary administration in a bid to withstand the “well-documented difficult trading conditions in the fashion industry”. Michael Smith and Peter Hillig of Smith Hancock were appointed administrators of Josh Goot on February 2. Goot founded the label in 2005. The business currently operates two retail stores, in Paddington in Sydney and Armadale in Melbourne, along with a wholesale business, and all parts of the business are expected to continue to trade throughout the administration process.

Former Smart50 finalist Paid International has entered voluntary administration, just months after the online finance provider agreed to refund $1.128 million to customers who were charged excessive loan fees, SmartCompany.au reported. Ian Francis and John Park of FTI Consulting were appointed administrators of Paid International on January 22. The first meeting of creditors is scheduled to take place in Perth on February 4.

Australians are experiencing fewer financial crises, new personal insolvency statistics have revealed, The Adviser reported. There were 6,888 personal insolvency incidents in the December 2014 quarter, according to the Australian Financial Security Authority. That marked an 8.1 per cent decline on the December 2013 quarter. Debt agreements climbed 2.5 per cent to 2,655, with South Australia and the Northern Territory reaching all-time highs.

While Australia’s commodities boom was running hot, it wasn’t only mining companies that benefited from the billions of dollars in investment pouring into the country. Airlines got a boost, too, The Wall Street Journal reported. That has changed as slumping commodity prices and reduced investment prompt fewer builders and pit-workers to travel to remote mine sites. The result: several operators of smaller aircraft, such as lightweight jets and turboprops, are going bust, while others are warning of a severe hit to profits.

Troubled regional carrier Skytrans has been put in voluntary administration as company executives seek to find work for laid off staff, The Courier Mail reported. illiam Fletcher and Tracy Lee Knight of Brisbane-based Bentleys Chartered Accountants have been appointed administrators of the Cairns-based carrier with a formal notice to be issued to creditors later this week. The administrators were unavailable for comment yesterday.