Stephen Jones’ successor revealed

The Prime Minister has announced his new ministry, including the replacement for the newly retired Stephen Jones.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed that Dr Daniel Mulino will serve as the Assistant Treasurer and Financial Services Minister during an announcement in Canberra outlining the reshuffle of the broader ministry.

Albanese said the ministers will be sworn in during a ceremony at 9am on Tuesday morning. 

Mulino had been widely tipped as a strong contender for the portfolio, given he has been a member of the House of Representatives standing committee on economics since 2019 and serving as the chair since August 2022.

Speaking on the appointment, the Prime Minister said he got the portfolio “because he’s terrific and he’ll do a terrific job”, adding that he was “very pleased to get the job”.

“He’s played a role in the Parliament here in economics, I believe the economics team remains strong, led of course by [Treasurer Jim Chalmers] and [Finance Minister Katy Gallagher],” Albanese said.

He also noted Mulino’s PhD from Yale as strong evidence of his suitability for the position.

The newly minted minister completed his doctorate at the US university in 2005, delivering his thesis, The Macroeconomics of Aging: The impact of an aging society on capital deepening and international factor flows.

In 2022, he published Safety net: The future of welfare in Australia, a book that “explains how the Australian welfare state was created – and what we need to do to protect and extend it”.

Prior to entering Parliament, first in Victoria in 2014 before transitioning to the federal level in 2019, Mulino worked as a lawyer at the Attorney-General’s Department from 1995 to 1996, a policy adviser at the Department of Finance from 1997 to 1998, and an economist at the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal from 1998 to 1999.

Mulino replaces former minister Stephen Jones, who announced his retirement from politics in January and did not contest the election.

“I want to express my immense gratitude to my community for the faith and trust they have placed in me to be their representative since 2010,” Jones said at the time.