Loan (War Service Land Settlement) Act 1953

Loan (War Service Land Settlement) Act 1953

This short piece of legislation does two things: it authorises the Commonwealth to borrow money to help resettle war veterans on farming land, and it makes a minor technical fix to an earlier law.

What it does

• Borrowing authority: The Treasurer (the Commonwealth's finance minister) is given permission to borrow up to £7,000,000 (seven million pounds). This money could be raised by issuing government bonds or Treasury Bills — two standard ways governments borrow from the public or financial markets.

• Restricted use of funds: The borrowed money can only be spent on the costs of the borrowing itself (e.g. administration fees) and on financial assistance to South Australia, Western Australia, and Tasmania for their war service land settlement programs.

• What is "war service land settlement"? After World War II, the Commonwealth and States ran programs to help returned servicemen (veterans) establish themselves as farmers by providing them with land and financial support. These three States were still running those programs in 1953 and needed Commonwealth funding.

• Technical fix to earlier law: The Act also amends the States Grants (War Service Land Settlement) Act 1952 to replace the phrase "the States" with "a State or States." This small wording change means the Commonwealth could make grants to , rather than being arguably required to fund all participating States together at once — giving the government more flexibility in how it distributed the money.