9th Dec 2013, 12:38 PM – Senate Commonwealth Inscribed Stock Amendment Bill 2013 - Consideration of House of Representatives Message - Removing debt limit

The majority voted in favour of amendments (1) and (2) moved by Greens Senator Christine Milne.

These amendments were introduced to remove the debt limit, rather than simply raise it to $500 billion (which is what the bill was originally introduced to do).

Since the majority voted in favour of this amendment, it will now by attached to the bill and returned to the House of Representatives for their consideration.

Background to Bill

On 22 October 2013, the Abbott Government announced that it will raise the debt ceiling from $300 billion to $500 billion.(Read more about this in the media here. ) This was following the August 2013 Pre-Election Economic and Fiscal Outlook which reported that the Treasurer's standing borrowing authority would reach the $300 billion limit by December 2013.

The purpose of the increase to the debt ceiling is to "provide stability and certainty to financial markets about the Government's ability to issue sufficient debt to manage its budget".(See the explanatory memorandum (106 KB). More about the bill, including its bills digest, is available here.)