Australian start-up Strategic Airlines has bought Australian charter carrier OzJet, which went into voluntary administration in May, Flightglobal reported.

Bank of Queensland is the subject of an investigation by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, The Australian reported. The regional bank that is based in Brisbane said it was made aware that it was under investigation yesterday. The news comes after the bank told the stock exchange yesterday there was no evidence it had acted dishonestly in relation to clients of collapsed investment group Storm Financial.

Bank of Queensland says there is no evidence of dishonest practices by the bank in connection with Storm Financial clients, the Brisbane Times reported. BOQ sought on Thursday to clarify its position given what it said was "significant misinformation'' in the media about its dealings with Storm Financial and Storm customer accounts. Based on "the bank's knowledge and enquiries to date'', it said, "there is no evidence of improper or dishonest practices or conduct by the bank in connection with Storm clients''.

Strains in pensions systems, in both private and public provision, threaten to turn the financial crisis of the past two years into a social crisis lasting for decades, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development warned on Tuesday. In its annual analysis of the health of pensions systems globally, the Paris-based organisation found private pension plans lost 23 per cent of their value last year, while higher unemployment “leaves little room for more generous public pensions”, the Financial Times reported.

A liquidation proceeding against Blue Chip’s sole remaining investment vehicle, Northern Crest, has failed, clearing the way for the investment company to migrate to Australia, The National Business Review reported. If the company moves to Australia there are concerns that investors of the failed Blue Chip schemes will not be able to pursue claims under New Zealand legislation. The Registrar of Companies had brought the liquidation proceeding against the ASX-listed but New Zealand-registered company on three grounds.

New figures from both sides of the Tasman confirm that New Zealand exporters will continue to face hard times in their biggest market as the global economic crisis drags Australia into recession, The New Zealand Herald reported. New Zealand's transtasman trade suffered a 20.7 per cent hit in April - led by a halving in the value of crude oil - and the release of Australia's latest national accounts data tomorrow is expected to report a further contraction in gross domestic product for the March quarter.

Greg Olliver has escaped bankruptcy after a judge signed off on a proposal that will give his creditors, owed more than $90 million, a guaranteed return of less than half a cent in the dollar, The National Business Review reported. Financier St Laurence, owed $6.5 million, had opposed the arrangement and protested over a deal in which the $7 million Olliver family mansion, against which it held security, ended up being on-sold to entities associated with Mr Olliver’s wife Sarah.

Australian political opposition to a proposed US$19.5 billion investment by Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd. in Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto Ltd. was raised to a new level Saturday as two prominent members of the upper legislative house launched a joint advertising campaign calling for the ruling Labor government to block the deal, The Wall Street Journal reported. The move will have little influence on whether the proposed tie-up gets approval from the Australian government, because that decision lies solely with Treasurer Wayne Swan.

Buyers interested in Timbercorp's assets are lining up for a bargain purchase after the agribusiness investment group was placed into voluntary administration, Stock Journal reported. And now the path could be open for investors to launch a class action against such failed timber managed investment schemes, the financial advisors who peddled them or even the Federal Government for allowing them. The Shareholders Association of Australia said there was precedent against companies who had created a misleading prospectus and poor governance.

One of Australia's most extraordinary business stories of the past few decades is the spectacular rise and equally spectacular fall of the ABC Learning Group, analysis by The New Zealand Herald found. ABC began with one centre in Brisbane in 1988. By 2007 it had used hundreds of millions of dollars from taxpayers, shareholders and banks to grow into the world's second-biggest childcare operator with more than 2300 centres in Australia, the United States, Britain, and New Zealand. In 2007, it reported profits of more than $150 million.