Josh Frydenberg

The Honourable
Josh Frydenberg
MP
Treasurer of Australia
Assumed office
24 August 2018
Prime Minister Scott Morrison
Preceded by Scott Morrison
Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party
Assumed office
24 August 2018
Leader Scott Morrison
Preceded by Julie Bishop
Minister for the Environment and Energy
In office
19 July 2016 – 27 August 2018
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull
Scott Morrison
Preceded by Greg Hunt
Succeeded by Melissa Price (Environment) &
Angus Taylor (Energy)
Minister for Resources and Northern Australia
In office
21 September 2015 – 19 July 2016
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull
Preceded by Gary Gray
Succeeded by Matthew Canavan
Assistant Treasurer of Australia
In office
23 December 2014 – 21 September 2015
Prime Minister Tony Abbott
Malcolm Turnbull
Preceded by Arthur Sinodinos
Succeeded by Kelly O'Dwyer
Member of the Australian Parliament
for Kooyong
Assumed office
21 August 2010
Preceded by Petro Georgiou
Personal details
Born Joshua Anthony Frydenberg
(1971-07-17) 17 July 1971
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Nationality Australian
Political party Liberal Party of Australia
Spouse(s) Amie Saunders
Children 2
Alma mater
Profession Politician
policy adviser
investment banker
Website Official website

Joshua Anthony Frydenberg (born 17 July 1971) is an Australian politician who has been Treasurer of Australia and Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party since 24 August 2018. He has been a member of the Australian House of Representatives for the seat of Kooyong since August 2010.

Frydenberg served in various roles in the Abbott and Turnbull Governments from 2013 to 2018, including as Minister for Resources and Northern Australia, and as Minister for the Environment and Energy. On 24 August 2018, he was elected Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party following a leadership spill, which saw Scott Morrison elected as Leader. Morrison subsequently appointed Frydenberg Treasurer of Australia.

Early life and education

Frydenberg was born in Melbourne and educated at Bialik and Mount Scopus Colleges. His mother, Erika Strausz, is a psychologist and University of Melbourne professor and his father Harry is a general surgeon. His mother was a Hungarian Jew born in 1943 who arrived in Australia in 1950 as a stateless child from a refugee camp after escaping from The Holocaust.[1] His father is also Jewish, and emigrated to Australia from Poland.

Frydenberg was a keen tennis player. He attempted, unsuccessfully, to drop out of high school to pursue a career in tennis. After graduating from high school, he took a gap year to play tennis full-time in Australia and Europe. Frydenberg played against Mark Philippoussis and Pat Rafter, and represented Australia at two World University Games. He and his father were present at the 1997 Maccabiah bridge collapse.[2][3]

Frydenberg studied and earned honours degrees in both law and economics at Monash University before working at Mallesons Stephen Jaques, a large Australian commercial law firm. He subsequently attended the University College, Oxford to study for Master of International Relations degree in 1998 on a Commonwealth scholarship. Frydenberg has also attained a Master of Public Administration from John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.[4]

Career

In 1999, Frydenberg worked as an assistant adviser to Attorney-General Daryl Williams before becoming an adviser to Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer, a post he held until 2003. From 2003 to 2005 he was a policy adviser to Prime Minister John Howard, specialising in domestic security issues, border protection, justice and industrial relations. In 2005 he took up a position as a Director of Global Banking with Deutsche Bank in the company's Melbourne office.[5]

2006 political candidacy

In 2006, Frydenberg announced that he was seeking Liberal preselection for Kooyong, a comfortably safe Liberal seat in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. The seat's incumbent member, Petro Georgiou, had held the seat since 1994. Kooyong is regarded as a Liberal 'leadership seat'. The three men, who held it before Georgiou, all went on to lead the Liberal Party or their predecessors--Andrew Peacock (leader of the Liberal Party 1983–85 and 1989–90), Sir Robert Menzies (founder of the Liberal Party and Prime Minister 1939–41 and 1949–66), and Sir John Latham (leader of the Nationalist Party, a direct ancestor of the Liberals, 1929–31).

In the days leading to the preselection convention, Queensland frontbenchers Ian Macfarlane, Peter Dutton and Santo Santoro backed Frydenberg's credentials, for which they were criticised by former Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett.[6]

The preselection was held at Trinity Grammar School on 23 April 2006.[7] Georgiou received 62 of the 85 delegates' votes, with Frydenberg receiving 22 votes and a third candidate, Alastair Armstrong, receiving one vote. After Frydenberg's defeat, federal Treasurer and deputy Liberal leader Peter Costello, who represented the nearby seat of Division of Higgins, encouraged him to run for pre-selection in Chisholm, a marginal electorate neighbouring Kooyong, held by Anna Burke of the ALP. It had previously been held by one of Frydenberg's mentors, Michael Wooldridge. Frydenberg declined the offer, saying, "This is where I am from, this is where I feel most comfortable and this is where I think there is real work to be done."[8] After Georgiou had announced his intention to retire at the next election, Frydenberg won preselection to contest the seat of Kooyong after beating industrial lawyer John Pesutto at the Melbourne Convention Centre on 20 June 2009.[9] Frydenberg's candidacy was supported by references from former Prime Minister John Howard and former Opposition Leader Andrew Peacock.[10]

Parliamentary career

Josh Frydenberg

Georgiou retired ahead of the 2010 federal election. With the support of former Liberal state president Michael Kroger, Frydenberg won Liberal preselection,[11] and went on to the seat with 52.56% of the primary vote and 57.55% of the two-party-preferred vote.[12]

In his maiden speech, he recounted the story of his Jewish grandparents' and great aunt's migration to Australia from Nazi controlled Europe and lauded the contribution of migrants to communities within his electorate. He enunciated his belief in small government, called for stronger ties with Asia while also maintaining a solid alliance with the US and proposed a target of having two Australian universities within the world's top ten by 2030.[13]

Abbott Government 2013-2015

At the 2013 federal election, Frydenberg was re-elected with the largest swing to the Liberal Party in the seat since 1975. He was sworn in as a Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister on 18 September 2013, with particular responsibility for the government's deregulation agenda. On 23 December 2014, Frydenberg was sworn in as Assistant Treasurer in a ministerial reshuffle and replaced Arthur Sinodinos, who resigned due to delays in an ICAC inquiry.[14][15]

Turnbull Government 2015-2018

Frydenberg in April 2018 with Siti Nurbaya Bakar, Indonesia's Minister of Environment and Forestry

Following the September 2015 Liberal leadership ballot where Malcolm Turnbull became the Prime Minister, Frydenberg was appointed the Minister for Resources, Energy and Northern Australia in the First Turnbull Ministry. In February 2016, the Nationals Matt Canavan took over responsibility for Northern Australia in the rearranged ministry.

In 2015, he declared that he had switched positions regarding same-sex marriage and publicly supported same sex marriage.[16]

With the re-election of the Turnbull Government in 2016, Frydenberg became the Minister for the Environment and Energy in the Second Turnbull Ministry.[17]

It has been reported that Frydenberg may be in breach of Section 44 of the Constitution of Australia as his mother and her family came to Australia as refugees from Hungary, and his mother may be automatically considered a Hungarian citizen. Frydenberg has noted that they said they were stateless when coming to Australia and so are not eligible for Hungarian citizenship.His mother stated Hungarian citizenship in her arrival form, so not stateless.[18]

Following the leadership spill in 2018, Frydenberg is serving as the Deputy Leader of Liberal Party of Australia and Treasurer of Australia.

During the August 2018 Deputy Liberal Party leadership spill Josh Frydenberg won a majority in the first round with 46 votes, while Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Steven Ciobo received 20 and Minister for Health Greg Hunt received 16.[19]

Morrison Government 2018-

In the August 2018 Liberal Party leadership spill where Scott Morrison was elected Leader and thus Prime Minister, Frydenberg was elected as Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party. During Morrison's press conference, he announced that Frydenberg would become Treasurer, the portfolio previously held by Morrison.[20]

References

  1. ↑ Iggulden, Tom; Belot, Henry (3 November 2017). "Josh Frydenberg denies Hungarian-born mother implicates him in dual citizenship saga". ABC News. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
  2. ↑ Whinnett, Ellen (18 April 2014). "Can rising Liberal star Josh Frydenberg go all the way to the top?". The Herald Sun.
  3. ↑ Maley, Jacqueline (20 October 2017). "Can wannabe tennis pro turned politician Josh Frydenberg ace Australia's energy crisis?". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  4. ↑ Mann, Simon (25 March 2006). "The battle for Kooyong". The Age. Melbourne.
  5. ↑ Maiden, Samantha (3 March 2006). "Costello backs rebel Georgiou". The Australian.
  6. ↑ "'Musketeers' told to keep out of Georgiou preselection". ABC News. Australia. 2006. Retrieved 22 April 2006.
  7. ↑ "Liberals in a preselection spin". The Age. 21 April 2006. Retrieved 22 April 2006.
  8. ↑ "Georgiou wins preselection battle". The Age. AAP. 23 April 2006. Retrieved 23 April 2006.
  9. ↑ "Frydenberg wins Kooyong". Herald Sun. 2009. Retrieved 20 June 2009.
  10. ↑ "Powerful Kooyong Allies". The Age. 21 April 2009. Retrieved 2 October 2013.
  11. ↑ William Bowe (11 May 2014). "Seats of the week: Kooyong and Higgins". The Poll Bludger.
  12. ↑ "House of Representatives: VIC Division: Kooyong". Australia votes, 2010. Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 18 March 2011.
  13. ↑ Johnson, Stephen (25 October 2010). "MP tells of aunt who escaped Holocaust". The Sydney Morning Herald. AAP. Retrieved 18 March 2011.
  14. ↑ Taylor, Lenore (21 December 2014). "Tony Abbott cabinet reshuffle moves Scott Morrison out of immigration". Guardian Australia. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  15. ↑ "Tony Abbott's revamped Ministry sworn in at Government House". news.com.au. News Corp Australia. 23 December 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  16. ↑ "Abbott Government rising star Josh Frydenberg reveals switch on gay marriage position". The Sydney Morning Herald. 25 March 2015.
  17. ↑ Anderson, Stephanie (20 July 2016). "Election 2016: Malcolm Turnbull unveils ministry with Christopher Pyne, Greg Hunt on the move". ABC News. Retrieved 22 July 2016.
  18. ↑ "Josh Frydenberg denies suggestions he could be Hungarian dual citizen". The Guardian. 2 November 2017. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
  19. ↑ David Crowe (24 August 2018). "The vote for deputy leader:
    Josh Frydenberg: 46 votes
    Steve Ciobo: 20 votes
    Greg Hunt: 16 votes
    There were 3 abstentions"    . Fairfax Media. Twitter.
  20. ↑ Lucy Sweeney; Henry Belot (24 August 2018). "Scott Morrison beats Peter Dutton in Liberal spill to succeed Malcolm Turnbull; Julie Bishop loses deputy position". ABC News. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
Parliament of Australia
Preceded by
Petro Georgiou		 Member for Kooyong
2010–present		 Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by
Arthur Sinodinos		 Assistant Treasurer of Australia
2014–2015		 Succeeded by
Kelly O'Dwyer
Preceded by
Gary Gray		 Minister for Resources and Northern Australia
2015–2016		 Succeeded by
Matt Canavan
Preceded by
Greg Hunt		 Minister for the Environment and Energy
2016–present		 Incumbent
Preceded by
Scott Morrison		 Treasurer of Australia
2018–present		 Incumbent
Party political offices
Preceded by
Julie Bishop		 Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party
2018–present		 Incumbent
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