Incoming Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services Daniel Mulino will be handed a laundry list of superannuation and financial advice policy proposals by key industry associations that they say are designed to make the system stronger, more equitable and more sustainable, and deliver more affordable advice to more people.
The new junior minister faces a tough task satisfying them all, but at a media briefing to unveil his new-look ministry on Monday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Mulino is well qualified to handle the outer-ministry portfolio responsibilities and that he had been given the nod to succeed Stephen Jones in the Assistant Treasurer financial services portfolios “because he’s terrific”.
“He’ll do a very good job,” Albanese said. “He is very well qualified for the job. He’s someone who was very pleased to get that job, I assure you.
“In terms of his qualification… he’s got a PhD in economics from Yale. That’s kind of handy.”
In addition to the doctorate, Mulino has a master’s degree in economics from the University of Sydney, Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Arts degrees from Australian National University, and is the author of Safety Net: The Future of Welfare in Australia, an analysis of the evolution of the Australian welfare state and the reforms required to ensure its sustainability and effectiveness today.
Mulino was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2019 and was re-elected in 2022 and 2025.
“He’s played a role in the parliament here in economics,” Albanese said.
“I think the economics team remains very strong, led, of course, by Jim [Chalmers] and Katie [Gallagher].”
The federal Member for Fraser was chair of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics, which oversees activities of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), and is regarded as well versed in issues related to financial regulation and the financial services industry. As an economist and lawyer by background, he is also seen as relatively business-friendly, with one lobbyist, speaking on background, saying Mulino had a reputation for being “thoughtful and consultative”.
Financial Services Council (FSC) chief executive Blake Briggs said Mulino “commences in the role with a range of important reforms underway and has the opportunity to complete those processes with broad industry support”.
Mulino will assume responsibility for regulation of the $4.1 trillion superannuation sector and will be on the frontline of the debate raging around the role of superannuation in addressing both supply- and demand-side solutions to the housing crisis; and even if calls for a royal commission into the governance and investment strategies of profit-to-member super funds may have receded for the foreseeable future.
In a statement Australian Retirement Trust chief executive officer David Anderson said “a strong relationship between government and industry is essential to ensuring the retirement system works in the best interests of the members we serve”.
Anderson said more than two million Australians will move into retirement over the next 10 years and the Government’s reforms to Australia’s financial advice laws, the implementation of payday super, and the introduction of mandatory service standards were top priorities this parliament to address.
“Our industry must have the right policy settings to ensure hard-working Australians are able to get the most out of their retirement savings and incomes,” he said.
Mulino has been a staunch and vocal proponent of superannuation preservation, speaking in Parliament in support of legislating the objective of superb and warning against proposals meant to achieve “short-term, political objectives” that would ultimately undermine the strength of the system.
“Those architects back in 1991 had it so right,” Mulino said in 2024. “They talked about the fact that you needed a public safety net, voluntary savings and mandatory savings which is what the superannuation system is.
“The mandatory superannuation system is very good at providing people protection against an aging society.”
Mulino said the effect of enshrining the purpose of superannuation would “not only define [the purpose of super], but say that future changes must support that purpose rather than undermining it”.
“That means that half-baked or populist measures that undermine the system, measures that undermine the potential for people to keep money in their accounts over long periods of time, schemes that attack preservation, the onus will be on those people to justify how those schemes support the purpose of superannuation rather than undermining it,” he said. “And in my opinion they’ll have a very hard time doing so.”
But Mulino is likely to face a capable sparring partner in the returned Tim Wilson, who has in the past made the use of super for housing a personal policy priority and is likely to argue in favour of it as the Coalition attempts to construct a new platform that can appeal to the aspirational voters that threw their lot in with Labor at this year’s federal election.
Key industry bodies including the FSC, Super Members Council, Super Consumers Association and Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia have each set out blueprints for how they believe the superannuation system can be tweaked and improved.
They include calls for stability to taxation rules and no changes to the fundamentals of the system – principally preservation and compulsion – along with reviews of insurance, including eliminating tax on death benefits and digitising binding death nominations.
They also include expansion of the Your Future, Your Super performance test, more flexibility on product rationalisation, expediting the provision of advice and guidance to members nearing and entering retirement, greater protections for members against scams, and addressing inequity including for low-income earners, women and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Mulino has a daunting task ahead of him, with his predecessor Stephen Jones failing running out of time to pass the Tranche 2 legislation of the Delivering Better Financial Outcomes reforms. The DBFO reforms, which stemmed from Michelle Levy’s Quality of Advice Review, were a major feature and will be a legacy of Jones’ tenure.
In July 2024, Jones managed to navigate Tranche 1 of the DBFO reforms through parliament, which included the so-called “quick wins” of streamlining fee consent forms for clients, providing more flexibility for advice providers over how Financial Services Guide requirements can be met, and clarifying the legal basis for super funds to pay advice fees to members.
The Tranche 1 reforms also introduced ministerial power over standardised consent forms, but producing said form has been problematic.
Following his retirement from politics, Jones claimed on several occasions that his successor would be equally committed to legislating advice reform, although there was no indication of who that might be if Labor took office again.
Not long before the federal election the government released draft legislation on the first part of the Tranche 2 DBFO reforms.
The draft legislation included the eradication of Statements of Advice and outlined the scope of advice super funds can collectively charge members for. The bill also included details around how “nudges” – targeted superannuation prompts – could be used byr funds. However, it did not include reforms to the Best Interests Duty and safe harbour steps, or to the controversial “new class of adviser”, which is yet to have even a name set in stone.
The Financial Advice Association Australia and other industry associations hope that as Minister, Mulino will continue the work to cut red tape and support the profession.
FSC’s Briggs said the association “supports the Assistant Treasurer prioritising the Government’s landmark financial advice reforms, which have the potential to significantly expand access to financial advice for Australians at scale and reduce costs for the financial advice profession”.
ASFA welcomed Mulino’s appointment, with chief executive Mary Delahunty saying the association was ready to work closely with the incoming government to secure the delivery of the key reforms it outlined as priorities before the election, including improving retirement outcomes and implementing payday super.
“We congratulate Minister Mulino on his appointment and look forward to establishing a positive and fruitful working relationship with him,” Delahunty said in a statement.
“Australia’s superannuation funds manage $4.2 trillion to deliver strong retirement outcomes for 17 million working Australians, with $2.4 billion being paid out every week to members. Superannuation is a pillar of our economic stability.”
