Commonwealth Inscribed Stock Amendment Bill 2013

The majority voted in favour of an amendment to change the proposed rise in the debt ceiling from $500 billion to $400 billion instead. The amendment was introduced by Labor Senator Penny Wong.

This means that this amendment will now by attached to the bill and returned to the House of Representatives for their consideration.(See the division in the House of Representatives on whether to accept this amendment here. )

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.)