TLDR
The Big Smoke Media Group entered creditors' voluntary liquidation in June 2026 after 13 years of operation. A statutory report from FRP Advisory recorded $5.11 million in liabilities against $33,351 in realisable assets, and the liquidator suspects insolvency began as early as June 2022.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
The numbers: $5.11m owed, $33k left
Stephen Wesley Hathway of FRP Advisory was appointed liquidator of The Big Smoke Media Group Pty Ltd on 10 June 2026, after creditors voted to wind the company up voluntarily.[1] The statutory report that followed, dated 10 September 2026, made the arithmetic plain.
Realisable assets came to A$33,351 against total liabilities of A$5.11 million, leaving a deficiency of approximately A$5.08 million.[3] To put the asset figure in context: $33,351 would not cover a year's rent on a small Sydney office, and would buy about 11 mid-range laptops. For a media company that had run for 13 years, it is an unusually bare ledger.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Realisable assets | A$33,351 |
| Total liabilities | A$5,110,000 |
| Deficiency | ~A$5,080,000 |
Four years of suspected insolvency
The liquidator's report indicates the company may have been insolvent as early as June 2022, four years before the formal winding-up in June 2026.[3] That is a long gap between the suspected point of no return and the moment creditors finally moved. The company had been registered since 19 February 2013, giving it a 13-year operating lifespan before the curtain came down.[2]
Trading while insolvent is a serious matter under Australian corporations law. ASIC requires liquidators to report if they suspect company officers have committed an offence, and separately flags that a report is mandatory whenever the return to unsecured creditors may fall below 50 cents in the dollar.[5] With assets covering less than one cent in the dollar of liabilities, FRP Advisory's reporting obligations are firmly engaged.
The collapse lands alongside broader pressure on the sector. A Sydney-based PR and digital marketing agency also entered voluntary liquidation during the same period, suggesting the squeeze extends beyond editorial-only businesses. Independent digital publishers across Australia have watched display and native advertising revenues erode for years as global platforms have taken a larger share of the market.
What happens to creditors now
ASIC keeps a close watch on how liquidators handle cases of this kind. According to ASIC's 2025 Annual Report, the regulator said it "monitors liquidator conduct closely as failures or misconduct by registered liquidators can result in significant harm to companies and their creditors and erosion of trust in the Australian insolvency system."[4]
For creditors, the arithmetic is blunt. With $33,351 in realisable assets divided against $5.11 million in claims, a full recovery is not a realistic outcome. Employees and secured creditors sit ahead of unsecured trade creditors in the priority queue, so unsecured creditors, the group most likely to include small suppliers and freelancers, face a recovery measured in fractions of a cent per dollar owed.[3]
FRP Advisory's next statutory obligations include any further reports to ASIC on officer conduct and a final account to creditors once asset realisations are complete. The insolvencynotices.com.au register, where the September 2026 statutory report was published, will carry those updates as they file.
SOURCES & CITATIONS
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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Xaviery Malinao writes for Prompt the Market on how brands and agencies are adapting to answer engines, drawing on Bushnote's work with clients across search, AI search and content.
