Commonwealth act

Loan Act (No. 2) 1943

RepealedCTH

This Act has been repealed and is no longer in force. It is retained for historical reference.

Jurisdiction

Commonwealth

Act Number

24 of 1943

Collection

act

Plain English Summary

1/10 complexity

What this law does This Act gives the Australian Government legal authority to borrow up to £200 million (in 1943 currency) to finance World War II operations.

The nuts and bolts

Borrowing power: The Treasurer can raise money by issuing government stock or Treasury Bills under existing financial laws (specifically the Commonwealth Inscribed Stock Act and Treasury Bills legislation).
Hard cap: Total borrowing cannot exceed £200 million pounds.
Spending rules: The money can only be used for two things—paying the costs of arranging the loans themselves, and funding war expenses approved by Parliament.

Why it matters During WWII, the government needed massive funds for military operations that exceeded regular tax revenue. This Act allowed the Commonwealth to go into debt (deficit financing) to pay for the war effort, ensuring troops and supplies were funded while spreading the financial burden across future years.

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Current sections

Direct links to the current provisions in Loan Act (No. 2) 1943.

Loan Act (No. 2) 1943

LOAN (No. 2).

No. 24 of 1943.

An Act to authorize the Raising and Expending of a certain Sum of Money.

[Assented to 29th June, 1943.]

BE it enacted by the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, the Senate, and the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Australia, as follows:—

Short title.

This Act may be cited as the Loan Act (No. 2) 1943.

Commencement.

This Act shall come into operation on the day on which it receives the Royal Assent.

Authority to borrow £200,000,000.

The Treasurer may, from time to time, borrow, under the provisions of the Commonwealth Inscribed Stock Act 1911–1940, or under the provisions of any Act authorizing the issue of Treasury Bills, moneys not exceeding in the whole the amount of Two hundred million pounds.

Purposes for which money may be expended.

The amount borrowed may be issued and applied only for the expenses of borrowing and for the purposes of appropriations made, or to be made, by law.

Issue and application of £200,000,000.

There may be issued and applied out of the proceeds of any loan raised under the authority of this Act, or of any other Act, the sum of Two hundred million pounds for war purposes.

Source text

Sourced from the Federal Register of Legislation (legislation.gov.au), CC BY 4.0.

1 Loan Act (No. 2) 1943