Portfolio — 31 March 2026

The Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services, Dr Daniel Mulino, announced that fuel excise will be halved from 1 April, framing the cut as targeted, temporary relief for tradies, outer-suburban and regional households, and supply chains disrupted by the Middle East conflict [TA-260331-treasu-ad135f4a8825]. He argued the measure is fiscally defensible given the government's improved budget position, and was explicit that inflation will fall when the cut takes effect and rise again when it expires — a deliberate signal that the government is not presenting this as a structural intervention [TA-260331-treasu-ad135f4a8825].

On the offsetting cost, Dr Mulino did not provide a specific figure, stating only that it will be absorbed within the broader Budget and offset package under development — a gap that leaves the fiscal arithmetic incomplete ahead of the Budget.

The opposition's response, carried in the same media release, was split across two distinct lines. The Shadow Home Affairs Minister acknowledged the temporary and targeted character of the relief and endorsed direct fuel tax relief as effective assistance — a position that closes off the opposition's ability to oppose the measure on design grounds [TA-260331-treasu-ad135f4a8825].

At the same time, he criticised the government's overall spending levels while declining to specify how the opposition would offset an equivalent measure, leaving the coalition's alternative fiscal position unresolved. Separately, the Shadow Home Affairs Minister used the exchange to call for Australia to proactively offer military support to the United States in the Middle East, citing the Strait of Hormuz situation and its downstream effects on domestic supply chains and energy security — a cross-portfolio move that connects the excise measure's stated rationale to a broader argument about Australian military posture and alliance obligations.