Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

The coalition will not oppose the International Monetary Agreements Amendment Bill 2013. This bill amends the International Monetary Agreements Act 1947 to provide a standing appropriation and authority to borrow for payments to meet drawings made by the International Monetary Fund under a bilateral agreement entered into by Australia and the IMF on 13 October 2012. The loan agreement will come into force following royal assent to this bill.

The loan agreement will provide for Australia to lend to the IMF up to the equivalent of 4.61 billion special drawing rights, which is approximately A$6.8 billion. Special drawing rights are a weighted currency basket of four major currencies—the US dollar, the euro, the British pound and the Japanese yen. The bilateral loan will have a term of two years, extendable by the IMF for up to two additional one-year periods, making a maximum total term of four years.

There is a lesson which must be learned from the current financial stresses in much of the western world—if debt is the problem, more debt is clearly not the answer. The coalition understands this. It is clear that the Rudd and Gillard Labor governments have not understood this. But the coalition will not oppose this bill.