Portfolio — 26 March 2026

The Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services, Dr Daniel Mulino, used a parliamentary debate on 26 March to condemn fuel price gouging linked to Middle East conflict and to detail the enforcement tools the government has recently activated in response [TA-260326-house-acd3ee5310f1:s161]. The centrepiece is legislation passed on 25 March that doubles the maximum penalty the ACCC can impose for anticompetitive behaviour from $50 million to $100 million — itself the second major uplift in four years, following a fivefold increase enacted in 2022 [TA-260326-house-acd3ee5310f1:s161].

Alongside the penalty increase, the ACCC's petrol price monitoring program was extended for a further five years and granted new authority to issue infringement notices where misleading conduct is suspected — a meaningful operational expansion that moves the regulator from observation toward active enforcement [TA-260326-house-acd3ee5310f1:s161]. Dr Mulino positioned these measures within the government's broader cost-of-living framing, citing tax cuts, student debt reduction, cheaper medicines, subsidised child care, minimum wage increases, energy policy, TAFE access, and expanded parental leave as the wider arc of relief the government is prosecuting.

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