The federal government has announced it will guarantee all flight bookings for the embattled airline Rex as it continues its regional operations while under voluntary administration.

On Thursday the transport minister, Catherine King, said Rex customers flying on regional routes would now have certainty “they will either fly or get their money back”, with the government agreeing to provide funding to guarantee bookings.

“Rex’s continuation is in the best interests of Australia, and the government is working closely with the administrators to ensure a strong regional aviation presence now and into the future,” King said.

“This will give customers confidence to continue booking regional flights with Rex –flights that allow them…

HECS/HELP no longer operates as it was supposed to. What was intended to be a modest contribution to the cost of higher education repaid once you earned nearly 90% of average earnings is now saddling Australians with large debts that they are repaying when they earn barely more than the minimum wage.

The line is often made that because HECS/HELP loans are indexed to inflation there is no need to worry about the debt because it is “in effect” interest-free.

The reality is that because inflation has risen faster than wages over the past two years many people…

Several of these factors contributed to the rising levels of formal insolvency appointments and distressed asset sales seen over the past year, which is likely to continue into 2024. 

In this article, we look back at, and think forward to, the trends and legal developments which businesses, insolvency professionals, accountants and investors need to be aware of as 2024 gets underway.

Key trends

Formal insolvencies

The general downturn in aspects of the Australian and global economy led to a heightened focus on financial stability and risk management within Australian businesses. Many businesses have encountered significant adverse fluctuations in aged debtor payments, with some debtors delaying payments, making partial…

Jackie Olden can pinpoint the troubling origin of her mum’s gambling addiction. “She was the kind of person who’d go to one shop where milk was a penny cheaper and another where bread was cheaper,” Olden recalls.

“This [gambling] would never have entered her head.”

But in 2008, her mother, Wendy Hughes, 64, took a job at the bookmaker Coral to make ends meet. At the time, digital roulette machines – known as fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) – were a new feature of betting shops, one that was proving extremely lucrative.

Staff were encouraged to play the machines themselves every day, on a free demonstration setting, to stoke punters’ curiosity and drum up more business.

An email from Hughes’s manager at Coral, seen…

The post-pandemic market has been challenging for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across Australia. While we like to think we are over the pandemic, the truth remains that the lingering effect of COVID-19 is continuing to unsettle the economic landscape, with an alarming rise in reported insolvencies. While the most common reason for business failure remained cashflow issues, almost 20% of all insolvent companies cited the pandemic as a contributing factor. 

Australia is not unique, however, with Financier Worldwide reporting: “Among the challenges have been market pressures in the form of evolving customer behaviour following the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the impact of competitors’…

The financial year doesn’t end for another two months, but there’s a closer deadline many people with university debts are dreading: June 1. 

On June 1, all unpaid HECS/HELP debts will automatically increase when indexation is applied. 

If you’ve got a higher education debt, here’s what you need to know.

But if you’re not familiar with HECS, tap the links below for a quick explanation:

• What is a HECS debt?
• What is indexation?

What is the HECS indexation rate for 2024?

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) hasn’t formally confirmed the indexation figures yet.

But, now we have the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) numbers, we can work it out ourselves. 

This year, HECS-HELP debt is expected to increase by 4.7 per cent after indexation.

But…

Premier Kings is the third Burger King franchisee to declare bankruptcy this year. | Photo: Shutterstock.

Premier Kings, a 172-unit Burger King franchisee whose owner died in 2022, declared bankruptcy protection, saying that operating losses even after the company closed restaurants forced the issue.

It’s the third time this year that a major Burger King operator has taken such a step, while several others closed restaurants around the country in the aftermath of the chain’s sales and profit challenges.

In this case, Premier Kings’ Chapter 11 filing follows the untimely death of its owner, Patrick Sidhu, whose Popeyes stores were placed into bankruptcy earlier this year for the same reason.

The company put the restaurants up for…

Hundreds of Rex Airlines employees have been officially let go from the regional carrier after receiving formal notices of termination less than 48 hours after the company was placed into voluntary administration. 

The airline grounded its services between major cities on Tuesday, before later appointing administrators from consulting firm Ernst & Young (EY) to oversee the business.

On…