[6][5][4] His childhood was spent in Canberra, meeting his friend David Smith at Marist College, who would also go on to serve in Federal Parliament.

[5][7] The family were briefly in Sydney, and Mulino studied year 7 at the selective James Ruse Agricultural High School.

[8][5] Having won a place at Yale University, Mulino earned a PhD in economics, with a thesis topic "The impact of an aging society on capital deepening and international factor flows.

[13] Mulino later became an economic adviser to financial services minister Bill Shorten in the Rudd-Gillard governments, working on reforms to flood insurance and mitigation strategies following natural disasters in Queensland.

At points, this has been through the Private Sector Advisory Services Group of the World Bank and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve of the United States.

[15] Mulino became politically active as a shop steward while working at Big W during high school and as a student at Australian National University.

[21] He met his wife Sarah while volunteering for the Labor Party — "tying ALP balloons to the arms of unsuspecting small children in the Kmart car park."