Speaking on the appointment, Albanese 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 Yale 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”.

Before 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.