Portfolio — 28 May 2026

Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services Daniel Mulino used 28 May to advance two distinct but interconnected policy fronts: consumer protection through the Scams Prevention Framework, and a broad tax-system overhaul framed as structural reform for intergenerational fairness.

The most consequential consumer-protection development was the Government's designation of banking, telecommunications and digital platforms as the first three sectors brought under the Scams Prevention Framework [TA-260528-treasu-b66aeedd129f]. Draft sector codes and a discussion paper on dispute resolution were released simultaneously, with the dispute resolution paper proposing automatic reimbursement for scam losses of $3,000 or less [TA-260528-treasu-925859f37d4b].

The minister signalled the Framework will expand to additional sectors subject to monitoring of scam activity [TA-260528-infras-374f09817c07:m132880]. The rollout is explicitly cross-portfolio: Minister for Communications Anika Wells appeared in the joint release linking the Framework to her portfolio, and the observation that the same announcement was carried across an infrastructure record, two Treasury media releases and a joint release indicates a coordinated multi-agency rollout rather than a single-portfolio announcement [TA-260528-treasu-da352d7252a7].

The underlying model is ecosystem-based — designating sectors, imposing mandatory codes and creating automatic redress — rather than relying on voluntary industry action.

On tax reform, Mulino introduced legislation bundling capital-gains-tax changes, negative-gearing modifications and an income-tax relief package [TA-260528-treasu-0523a357e763]. This comms activity directly parallels the parliamentary debate from the prior day: in the House on 27 May, Mulino framed the budget as addressing three problems simultaneously — the tax system's failure on young Australians' housing aspirations, the need for new tax cuts, and the misalignment between taxes on capital and trust income versus labour income [TA-260527-house-ef5cc5d1c124:s051].

The Working Australians Tax Offset ($250 annual offset on earned income), combined with an instant deduction for small businesses, was presented as delivering up to $2,800 annual relief for an average earner. Small-business measures detailed in the House debate include making the $20,000 instant asset write-off permanent, reinstating permanent loss carry-back from 1 July 2026, raising the venture-capital limited partnerships asset cap, and introducing a refundable tax offset for early-stage start-ups incurring losses.

The capital-gains-tax component is the structural centrepiece: the legislation returns to indexation, modifies negative gearing, and is supported by modelling projecting a shift of 75,000 households from renting to owner-occupancy over the medium term [TA-260528-treasu-0523a357e763]. Consultation on carve-outs for venture-capital firms, small-business groups and the biotech sector is ongoing, signalling the government is managing risk of industry pushback by keeping those stakeholders in the design process.

A 50 percent fuel excise cut, applying until 30 June 2026, was also announced and framed as an inflation-easing measure.

The two streams converge on a single directional signal: Mulino is simultaneously implementing the post-Budget legislative agenda (tax reform) and standing up new consumer-protection architecture (scams). Both streams frame the government's approach as long-run structural change rather than one-off interventions — the scams framework explicitly reserves the right to expand sector coverage, and the tax package is described in parliamentary debate as a multi-year overhaul.