Portfolio — 29 May 2026

Assistant Minister Julian Hill spoke in the second reading debate on Appropriation Bills No. 1 and No. 2 2026–27, using his contribution to defend the budget across a wide range of policy domains well beyond his formal citizenship and multicultural affairs portfolio. His overarching frame positioned the budget as responsible fiscal management delivering relief, resilience and reform for the next generation — explicitly contrasting it with what he characterised as opposition cuts [TA-260528-house-f5e69c44cc32:s104].

Hill advanced the government's fiscal headline claim that the budget leaves Australia $45 billion better off than the mid-year update and a quarter-trillion dollars better off than the previous coalition's budget. He named the Middle East conflict as an active external drag on the Australian economy, adding to cost-of-living pressures the budget is designed to offset.

On household relief, Hill announced five income-tax cuts anchored by a $250 Working Australian tax offset and a $1,000 instant tax deduction available to workers and small businesses. He also cited a halving of the fuel excise and a three-month zero heavy-vehicle road user charge as direct cost-of-living interventions — measures that touch the Infrastructure and Transport and Climate and Energy domains beyond his own portfolio remit.

Doubled penalties for major consumer-law breaches rounded out the consumer-protection element of his contribution.

Housing featured prominently: Hill said the Homes for Australia plan would support 75,000 additional homebuyers, backed by $47 billion in investment, with a further $59 million directed to social housing for young people. On health, he confirmed permanent Medicare urgent-care clinics in Narre Warren and Dandenong and pointed to increased public hospital funding — signals directed squarely at his own Melbourne-area constituency.

The migration dimension of Hill's contribution was the sharpest expression of his portfolio authority. He reported net overseas migration has fallen more than 45 percent from its 2022 peak and said the decline will continue. He then drew a direct contrast with the opposition, rejecting their proposal to cut 17 welfare payments for permanent residents.

He urged eligible permanent residents to apply for citizenship and noted the opposition's proposal carries no published costings — a line that combines his citizenship portfolio role with a fiscal-credibility attack on the opposition's position.

This parliamentary contribution carries no corresponding ministerial media release in the current window, so the record rests entirely on the House debate. The breadth of Hill's remarks — spanning tax, housing, health, transport, consumer law and migration — reflects the standard government pattern of using appropriations second reading debates for broad budget advocacy rather than portfolio-specific scrutiny.