Now lawBusiness & Trade Introduced in the House of Representatives, 30 Mar 2026

Export lender can now stockpile fuel and critical minerals

This law lets Export Finance Australia, a government-owned lender, buy, store and sell diesel, petrol, key minerals and other goods when supply is at risk. Parliament passed it in two days. People were worried about fuel because of the conflict in the Middle East.

Official name: Export Finance and Insurance Corporation Amendment (Strategic Reserve) Bill 2026

Who it affects

• Drivers, farmers and truckies: The government can now hold its own diesel and other fuel to use if supply from overseas is cut.
• Miners of key minerals: The government can buy what they dig up, set a lowest price or promise to buy set amounts. It starts with antimony, gallium and rare earths. These are lesser-known metals used in modern technology.
• Export Finance Australia: It gets new powers to trade and store goods. People on its board groups can now be paid for that work.
• Taxpayers: The government carries the risks and keeps any profits from Reserve deals.

Only 30 days of diesel

Export Finance Australia is a lender owned by the government. It helps Australian exporters and big projects with loans, guarantees and insurance. Its law is the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation Act 1991. That is the lender's old name.

The government says the conflict in the Middle East has put supplies of fuel and other goods at risk. Australia holds about 30 days of diesel and jet fuel. It holds 39 days of petrol. These fuels make up about 95 per cent of the refined fuel the country uses.

On 12 January 2026 the government said something else too. It would set up a store of key minerals. These are called critical minerals. They are metals and minerals needed for things like batteries, electronics and defence gear.

This law lets the lender run one Strategic Reserve. It can hold several stores, such as a fuel store and a minerals store.

What a strategic material is

The law creates a new term, "strategic material". It covers three groups.

The first is any mineral on Australia's Critical Minerals List. The Department of Industry, Science and Resources keeps that list. The first minerals the government will look at are antimony, gallium and rare earths.

The second is fuel. That means petrol, diesel (including diesel made from plants), jet fuel, crude oil and fuel oil for ships. The minister can add other fuels in a formal rule that Parliament can reject. The government says diesel will come first.

The third is any other goods that are short, or could become short, because supply chains break down. The government gives farm fertiliser as an example.

New powers for Export Finance

The lender gets a new job. It must help make sure Australia has enough of these strategic goods to keep the nation and its economy safe.

To do that it can buy, sell, move or store the goods. It can also pay others to do so. It can buy and sell rights to them too. It can still use its usual tools, such as loans, guarantees and insurance.

The government says this could mean agreeing to buy a mine's future output. It could mean promising how much will be bought. It could also mean setting a lowest and highest price. The lender could also stockpile minerals if needed.

Say a small rare earths miner cannot get a bank loan because world prices swing wildly. The lender could promise to buy what it digs up at a set lowest price. Then the mine can open.

For this work, the lender does not have to follow two of its usual duties about growing exports. The normal government buying rules do not apply to its Reserve work either. Those are called the Commonwealth Procurement Rules.

Who decides and carries risk

Every Reserve deal must go through a special account for deals in the national interest. The lender's board sends each deal to the Minister for Trade and Tourism. Then the minister decides.

The government carries all the risks and losses. It keeps any profits. The minister can set rules on how the government pays the lender back for this work.

Other changes to the lender

Until now, the lender could only buy a share in an export business or overseas project through the national interest account. The law lets it buy these shares through its own normal account too.

People on the lender's board groups can now be paid for that extra work. The government says the board's investment group will be busier checking Reserve deals. Either the minister or an independent body that sets pay for top public jobs will set the pay.

The law also fixes a wrong reference in the law.

Regular reviews

There must be an independent review of the lender's whole law by 31 December 2029. Then there must be one every five years after that.

Each review report must go to Parliament within 15 sitting days, which are days Parliament meets. It must leave out facts that could hurt businesses if made public.

Start date

The main changes started the day after the law was signed, which was 2 April 2026.

The government brought the bill to the House of Representatives, Parliament's main house, on 30 March 2026. The House passed it that day. The Senate, Parliament's second house, passed it on 31 March 2026.

The Governor-General, who stands in for the King, signed it into law on 1 April 2026. It became Act number 21 of 2026, its official law number.

How they voted

Its journey through Parliament

Official sources

• Bill page on aph.gov.au
• Text of the bill
• Explanatory memorandum

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