Portfolio — 2 April 2026

The Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services, Dr Daniel Mulino, announced a $1 billion interest-free business loans program on 2 April, drawing on the National Reconstruction Fund to support companies facing elevated and volatile fuel costs [TA-260402-treasu-97ec23155433]. The program targets freight companies, construction-affected enterprises, and supply-chain participants more broadly, with disbursements expected within a fortnight.

The announcement is explicitly paired with the government's separate 50 per cent fuel excise cut — a three-month temporary measure to reduce petrol and diesel prices — framing the two instruments as a coordinated response to cost pressures on business [TA-260402-treasu-97ec23155433].

Beyond the loans announcement, the Assistant Treasurer addressed two further policy fronts. On the Budget, he confirmed it will contain savings and tax reform measures but declined to nominate a net savings envelope, characterising the government's approach as balancing fiscal responsibility against targeted support for cohorts exposed to economic disruption.

On domestic gas supply, he endorsed the Minister for Resources' Notice of Intent to enforce a gas-supply guarantee on exporters, stating that if industry-led negotiations do not produce a commitment within the current quarter, the government will invoke the trigger mechanism [TA-260402-treasu-97ec23155433]. The gas-supply position signals active cross-portfolio coordination between the financial services and resources portfolios, with the Assistant Treasurer publicly backing enforcement tools that sit outside his primary remit.

Taken together, today's release presents the Assistant Treasurer managing three distinct but related economic pressures simultaneously: immediate business liquidity through the loans program, near-term consumer relief through the excise cut, and medium-term energy cost stability through the gas guarantee mechanism. The Budget framing — savings and reform confirmed, quantum withheld — preserves fiscal flexibility ahead of the Budget's release.