The Australian Office of Financial Management will take an eight-week break from sales of Commonwealth government bonds over the summer. The last tender for 2011 will be held on Friday week (December 9) and bond tenders will resume on February 1, 2012.Over the three preceding summers - and covering the period in which the Budget swung from surplus to deficit as the global financial crisis took hold - the AOFM has taken a break of either four or five weeks from bond sales.For the present, 2011/12, financial year the AOFM must sell A$53 billion in bonds, the AOFM said yesterday. The agency published the estimates in connection with the Mid-Year Financial and Economic update released by Treasury.This is a rise of $2 billion on the estimated funding task published by the AOFM in May.The long lay-off from Australian government bond sales may be a matter of convenience, but it may also prove handy for anyone else with a need to sell term-debt tied to Australian risk, such as the country's AA-rated major banks.The AOFM also said that it now expected there will be no run-down in the volume of Treasury Notes on issue, a revision from the outlook in May.There were $13 billion in Treasury Notes on issue at the end of September. The AOFM reiterated that it planned to maintain at least $10 billion on issue to maintain a liquid market.