Tribune’s note

Senator Wong used 31 March to advance the government's energy-security response on two fronts simultaneously. In the Senate chamber she introduced the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation Amendment (Strategic Functions) Bill, granting Export Finance Australia a direct role in securing and stockpiling critical materials during the Strait of Hormuz disruption.

In question time she defended the broader fuel-crisis package — stockholding releases, regulatory changes, excise cuts, and the Export Finance Australia de-risking mechanism — while Treasury estimates put the excise cut's inflation impact at roughly half a percentage point through June 2026. The bill and the QT defence together show a deliberate pattern: Export Finance Australia is being positioned as the government's primary commercial instrument for fuel and supply-chain security, extending the toolkit announced five days earlier.

Primary records (13)

The official records this note draws on — the raw primary documents themselves, as published.