Australia’s struggling conservative government faces a high-stakes test this week as it prepares to unveil its second budget, The Wall Street Journal reported. Announcing too much austerity on May 12—as the government did last year—could turn off voters ahead of an election that must be called next year. Too little would make a mockery of Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s pledge two years ago, before the last election, to end quickly a string of deficits under the previous Labor government.

In cutting interest rates to a fresh record low of 2.0% Tuesday, Australia’s central bank is hoping to give a jolt to an economy that’s suffering from the end of a decadelong mining boom, The Wall Street Journal reported. But a series of rate cuts in the past three years have failed to achieve the Reserve Bank of Australia’s goal of fostering manufacturing and other businesses that lost out during the era of high commodity prices. Weighed down by high costs, weak consumer demand and other worries—many of which are hangovers of the boom—businesses are reluctant to invest.

A company that shares its director with the Noggi Frozen Yogurt chain has entered voluntary administration, SmartCompany.au reported. Stewart Free and Bradd Morelli of Jirsch Sutherland were appointing administrators of SKS Partners on April 9. An investigation by SmartCompany has revealed SKS Partners has close ties with the franchised Noggi Frozen Yogurt chain, which was founded by John Suh in 2009 during the height of the frozen yoghurt craze in Australia.

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.