{"id":"BILL-r7472","name":"Export Finance and Insurance Corporation Amendment (Strategic Reserve) Bill 2026","slug":"export-finance-and-insurance-corporation-amendment-strategic-reserve-bill-2026","collection":"bill","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":446050,"registerId":"commonwealth-BILL-r7472-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-05-05","status":"royal_assent","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[],"analysis":{"summary":{"status_summary":"The Export Finance and Insurance Corporation Amendment (Strategic Reserve) Bill 2026 received royal assent on 1 April 2026 as Act No. 21 of 2026.","complexity_score":7,"likely_questions":["Which materials qualify as strategic materials and how can the list be updated?","What approval process applies before EFIC can enter a Strategic Reserve arrangement?"],"complexity_factors":["new definitions and scope for strategic materials","ministerial national interest approvals and directions","Commonwealth liability and receipt mechanisms for arrangements"],"plain_english_summary":"The Act creates a new Strategic Reserve function for the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation (EFIC) to secure supplies of strategic materials vital to Australia’s national and economic security. EFIC may insure, guarantee, lend, buy, sell, transport or store such materials and enter other minister‑specified arrangements, subject to Ministerial approval or directions and Commonwealth indemnity for approved liabilities. The law requires public notice of arrangements, periodic independent reviews, and affects EFIC, the responsible Ministers and entities seeking EFIC support."},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":7,"scope_assessment":{"changed":true,"description":"Yes. The Act materially expands EFIC’s statutory scope beyond export finance and insurance into active acquisition, holding, transport and market arrangements for \"strategic materials\" (new function at s.7(dh) and powers in s.23BA). It adds ministerial powers to require EFIC to enter such arrangements (s.29(3A)) and creates a Commonwealth financial backstop for those activities (s.66AA). Those changes move EFIC from primarily a trade‑support financier and insurer into an instrument for securing physical and contractual supplies of strategic commodities, a significant broadening of mandate compared with EFIC’s traditional export finance remit."},"complexity_factors":["Multiple new defined terms added (EFIC’s Strategic Reserve function; SR arrangement; strategic material; Resources Minister) in subsection 3(1) and s.3(6).","New standalone SR powers in section 23BA that allow diverse transaction types (insurance, guarantees, loans, purchase, sale, transport, storage, rights trading) plus instrumented expansion (s.23BA(1)–(3)).","Extensive ministerial controls: referral requirement (s.23BA(2)); ministerial approval and direction powers that can override EFIC’s usual authorisations (s.27(4C)–(4D); s.29(3A)).","New financial framework creating Commonwealth backstop liability and directed receipt flows, with borrowing alternative and permitted EFIC deductions (s.66AA(2)–(7)).","Subsidy regime expansion by legislative instrument with principles for paying EFIC subsidies (amended s.67).","Cross‑references to multiple parts of the EFIC Act (Parts 4 and 5) and other legislation (PGPA Act s.105B exclusion), increasing navigation complexity (s.23BA(4)).","Publication and confidentiality rules changed — mandatory Gazette notices but prohibited naming of parties (s.30 amendments).","Procedural additions: additional referral categories in s.25 and expanded definitions of applications/claims/arrangements across ss.88–89, increasing administrative steps.","Transitional provision and interaction with existing determinations (continuation of prior s.67(1) determinations).","New periodic independent review mechanism with timing and tabling duties (s.90A)."],"plain_english_summary":"**What this Act does (mechanically)\n\n- Creates a new \"Strategic Reserve\" function for the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation (EFIC). EFIC can now engage in activities that secure, or are intended to secure, supplies of \"strategic materials\" in support of Australia’s national and economic security (new function added at section 7(dh); definition additions in section 3). \n\n- Defines key terms. \"Strategic material\" covers: items on the government’s Critical Minerals List; a list of fuels (including gasoline, diesel, kerosene, crude oil, fuel oil and any other fuel the Minister specifies); and any material vulnerable to supply‑chain disruption (new and amended definitions in subsection 3(1) and s.3(6)). An \"SR arrangement\" is any arrangement of the kind described in the new SR‑specific provisions (see subsection 3(1) and section 23BA).\n\n- Specifies what EFIC may do for the Strategic Reserve. EFIC may insure, guarantee, lend or enter into other arrangements to buy, sell, transport or store strategic materials, or buy/sell rights relating to them (new section 23BA). The Minister may also specify further kinds of arrangements by legislative instrument (s.23BA(3)).\n\n- Requires ministerial oversight and ministerial referral. EFIC must refer any application to do an SR activity to the responsible Minister before acting (s.23BA(2); additions to s.25). The Minister can approve or direct EFIC to enter SR arrangements even where EFIC might not otherwise be authorised to do so (s.27(4C)–(4D); s.29(3A)).\n\n- Gives the Minister power to attach conditions. Ministerial approvals or directions that relate to SR arrangements can include conditions about the volume and price of the strategic material and other terms (s.28(d); s.29(5)(d)).\n\n- Establishes a Commonwealth financial backstop and receipt flow. If EFIC enters SR arrangements with Ministerial approval or direction, the Act: \n  - requires EFIC to pay receipts from those SR arrangements to the Commonwealth (subject to limited deductions) (s.66AA(2)–(3), (7)); and\n  - makes the Commonwealth liable to pay EFIC amounts needed to discharge EFIC liabilities under the SR arrangements (s.66AA(4)). The Finance Minister can instead approve EFIC borrowing and the Commonwealth assumes a liability to discharge that borrowing (s.66AA(5)–(6)).\n\n- Allows subsidies and payment principles to be determined. The Minister may make a legislative instrument setting principles under which the Commonwealth will pay EFIC subsidies in respect of contracts, guarantees, loans and SR arrangements (amended s.67).\n\n- Adjusts EFIC governance, publication and disclosure. EFIC must publish notices in the Gazette of contracts/guarantees/loans/SR arrangements entered under ministerial approval or direction, but the notices must not name the parties to contracts, guarantees or SR arrangements (amended s.30). Certain Commonwealth procurement instruments under the PGPA Act do not apply to the Strategic Reserve function (s.23BA(4)).\n\n- Adds transparency and review rules. The Minister must commission periodic independent reviews of the Act’s operation and effectiveness (first review due by 31 Dec 2029; recurring every ~5 years) and must table review reports in Parliament (new s.90A).\n\nWho this affects and why it matters\n\n- EFIC (the statutory corporation): gains a new operational remit to secure strategic materials and expanded transaction types (insurance, guarantees, loans, buying/selling/storing materials or rights) (s.7(dh); s.23BA).\n\n- Ministers (Resources Minister, Finance Minister and the responsible Minister for EFIC approvals/directions): obtain significant decision‑making power — to define fuels, to approve or direct EFIC to act, to attach price/volume conditions, and to set subsidy principles (s.3(6); s.27(4C)–(4D); s.28(d); s.67).\n\n- Taxpayers / Commonwealth balance sheet: take on an explicit contingent and, in some cases, actual liability for EFIC’s SR activities (s.66AA(4)–(6)). Receipts from SR arrangements flow to the Commonwealth, not retained by EFIC, except for an administration fee and costs as directed (s.66AA(2), (7)).\n\n- Private market participants (traders, storage operators, lenders, insurers, miners, fuel suppliers): may face EFIC as a buyer, seller, financier or guarantor in markets for strategic materials. That introduces a government‑backed counterparty with possible preferential access to finance or contractual backing (s.23BA; s.66AA; s.67).\n\nOfficial stated purpose and a reality check against mechanics\n\n- The instrumentic purpose in parliamentary materials is to \"secure supplies of strategic materials in support of national and economic security\". Mechanically, the Bill achieves this by: (a) giving EFIC explicit statutory power to transact in physical and contractual rights in strategic materials (s.23BA); (b) allowing ministerial approvals/directions to override normal authorisation limits (s.27(4C)–(4D); s.29(3A)); and (c) placing a Commonwealth financial guarantee/backstop on EFIC’s SR liabilities (s.66AA(4)–(6)).\n\n- Trade‑offs and implementation risks to watch (linked to the specific provisions):\n  - Fiscal risk: the Commonwealth becomes liable for EFIC’s SR losses for Minister‑approved/directed SR arrangements (s.66AA(4)). That is a contingent liability that may become cash cost. The Finance Minister can convert the liability into Commonwealth‑backed borrowing (s.66AA(5)–(6)), but that still exposes the budget to interest/costs.\n  - Market effects: EFIC buying, storing or financing strategic materials (s.23BA(1)(d) and (e)) can crowd out private suppliers or alter prices, because EFIC has government backing and access to subsidies (s.67) and receipts flow to the Commonwealth (s.66AA(2)). The Act permits Ministerial conditions on price and volume (s.28(d); s.29(5)(d)), which can directly affect market transactions.\n  - Concentrated benefits and rent‑seeking risk: parties that secure EFIC SR contracts gain favourable counterparty security and potential pricing/volume guarantees; costs are borne broadly by taxpayers via the Commonwealth liability framework (s.66AA).\n  - EFIC’s operational independence is reduced: the Minister can require EFIC to enter SR arrangements (s.29(3A)) and can approve arrangements even if EFIC is not otherwise authorised to do them (s.27(4C)–(4D)); this increases political discretion over commercial decisions.\n  - Administrative and compliance burden: new referral and approval pathways (s.23BA(2); s.25 additions), publication rules (s.30), and the requirement for periodic independent reviews (s.90A) create extra procedural steps and reporting obligations.\n  - Implementation complexity: valuing and managing physical stock, contingent liabilities, storage/transport logistics, and coordinating with other procurement or emergency frameworks (PGPA procurement rules are explicitly excluded for SR activities — s.23BA(4)).\n\nWho pays, who decides, and what behaviour changes\n\n- Who pays: taxpayers/the Commonwealth are exposed to liabilities arising from Minister‑approved or directed SR arrangements and will receive receipts from SR arrangements (s.66AA(2), (4)). EFIC may also be paid subsidies under principles set by the Minister (s.67).\n\n- Who decides: the responsible Minister(s) exercise decisive control — defining fuels (s.3(6)), approving/direction powers over EFIC SR activities (s.27, s.29), determining subsidy principles (s.67) and directing receipt flows via the Finance Minister (s.66AA(2)).\n\n- What behaviour changes: EFIC shifts from primarily export finance/insurance activities to also conducting or facilitating physical market activity in strategic materials (buying/selling/storing and financing). Private firms may respond by bidding for EFIC contracts, seeking EFIC guarantees or competing with EFIC‑sponsored stockpiles.\n\nKey sections for quick reference: definitions and ministerial powers (s.3; s.3(6)); Strategic Reserve powers (s.23BA); referral and approval/direction rules (s.25; s.27; s.29); publishing/confidentiality (s.30); Commonwealth backstop and receipt rules (s.66AA); subsidy principles (s.67); periodic reviews (s.90A)."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/export-finance-and-insurance-corporation-amendment-strategic-reserve-bill-2026","history":"/api/acts/export-finance-and-insurance-corporation-amendment-strategic-reserve-bill-2026/history","analysis":"/api/acts/export-finance-and-insurance-corporation-amendment-strategic-reserve-bill-2026/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/export-finance-and-insurance-corporation-amendment-strategic-reserve-bill-2026/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/export-finance-and-insurance-corporation-amendment-strategic-reserve-bill-2026/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/export-finance-and-insurance-corporation-amendment-strategic-reserve-bill-2026/documents"}}