Corporate receivers Ferrier Hodgson are trying to sell off the assets of collapsed Melbourne internet service provider ispONE for the second time in less than a year, after the remaining subsidiaries entered voluntary administration on Friday, The Australian Financial Review reported.

Australia risks unleashing a debt crisis similar to Europe's unless the government reins in spending and considers privatizing some state assets, according to an advisory body charged with assessing the nation's finances, The Wall Street Journal reported. The National Commission of Audit said the government needed to make the changes to shield the world's 12th-largest economy from the sorts of sovereign-debt problems that certain European nations such as Greece and Spain have recently faced.

Australia's Prime Minister Tony Abbott has gone from student boxing champion at Oxford University to a combative defender of conservative values during two decades in Parliament, The Wall Street Journal reported. Now, he is preparing for a federal budget on May 13 that represents one of the biggest battles of his leadership yet. In his sights are generous government welfare programs for Australians, which the ruling Liberal Party argues are increasingly unaffordable as the boost to Treasury coffers from a decadelong mining boom fades. Mr.

Creditors for the parent company of collapsed discount store chain Chickenfeed are waiting to retrieve tens of millions of dollars, as lengthy proceedings to recover the funds are still in the early stages, The Examiner reported. Retail Adventures, owned by Tasmanian businesswoman Jan Cameron, was Australia's largest discount variety store operator but went into liquidation in February. Liquidators are now pursuing more than $100 million from Ms Cameron for insolvent trading, preferential payments and an invalid loan.

The Adelaide company that 18 months ago became the first to face a board spill under the controversial 'two strikes' rule on executive pay has fallen into voluntary administration with debts of more than $100 million, Business Spectator reported on an Australian story. Penrice Soda Holdings appointed McGrathNichol as a voluntary administrator to allow the business to continue to trade and to achieve fresh financing to continue its turnaround strategy under chief executive Guy Roberts.

Personal insolvency in Australia has increased by 6.1 per cent compared to the same quarter last year, despite the number of personal insolvency agreements being at their lowest since 2007, The Australian reported. The closures in the Victorian car manufacturing industry and the decline in the West Australian mining sector are being blamed for the results, with those states showing the highest increases in personal insolvency in statistics released by the Australian Financial Security Authority yesterday.

Australians are among angry bitcoin users taking legal action to recover millions of dollars in cash and virtual currency lost when Japan’s Mt Gox exchange crashed in February. The Australian can reveal that at least two Australians are part of a class action being prepared by London legal firm Selachii aimed at recovering lost money and bitcoin. Australians also are among those who have lost hundreds of bitcoins. Coffs Harbour-based Pantelis Roussakis said he had lost 222 bitcoins.

A tough retail environment has claimed another victim, with the collapse of an 80-year-old family-owned jewellery store chain, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. Bevilles, which employs about 477 people across 27 stores, has entered voluntary administration.More than half its staff reportedly face redundancy. The retail sector has been hit with a wave of collapses since the financial crisis, especially in fashion, including stores such as Brown Sugar, Bettina Liano, Ed Harry, Ojay, Colorado, Snowgum and Fletcher Jones.

A disproportionate number of ACT companies, including those in construction, are going broke because they are under-capitalised, according to liquidator Eddie Senatore, who has more than 25 years' experience in insolvency, The Canberra Times reported. This occurs when a company cannot afford operational expenses because of a lack of capital. For the ACT, the problem accounts for 16 per cent of insolvencies, almost twice the national average at 9 per cent.

A disproportionate number of ACT companies, including those in construction, are going broke because they are under-capitalised, according to liquidator Eddie Senatore, who has more than 25 years' experience in insolvency, The Canberra Times reported. This occurs when a company cannot afford operational expenses because of a lack of capital. For the ACT, the problem accounts for 16 per cent of insolvencies, almost twice the national average at 9 per cent.