Everything you need to know about Josh Frydenberg
With the next federal election likely to be called by May 2022, Yahoo News Australia has answered the most popular questions people are asking about Treasurer Josh Frydenberg.
How old is Josh Frydenberg?
Mr Frydenberg was born July 17, 1971 (aged 50 years).
How tall is Josh Frydenberg?
He is around 171cm tall.
Where did Josh Frydenberg grow up?
Mr Frydenberg was born and raised in the Melbourne suburb of Kew, where he spent most of his childhood and where his grandparents lived for more than 30 years.
He was educated at Bialik and Mount Scopus Colleges.
Mr Frydenberg currently lives in Hawthorn, and unlike many federal politicians, he doesn’t own a permanent base in the ACT.
He recently stayed an extended period at the Lodge with Prime Minister Scott Morrison during the lockdowns, reportedly spending a lot of his spare time playing pool with the PM.
Before politics Mr Frydenberg graduated from Monash University with honours in law and economics, and went on to work at one of the nation’s top commercial law firms.
He was later offered a Fulbright scholarship to the US and a scholarship to Oxford University, completing a Master of Philosophy and a degree in International Relations at the latter.
He then completed a Masters of Public Administration at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.
Who is Josh Frydenberg married to?
Mr Frydenberg is married to Amie, with whom he has two children; Gemma and Blake.
What is Josh Frydenberg's ethnic background?
Mr Frydenberg’s parents are both Jewish.
His mother, Erika Strausz, was born in Hungary and his father Harry was born in Poland, both emigrating to Australia as children.
His mother was born in 1943, arriving in Australia in 1950 as a stateless child from a refugee camp after escaping the Holocaust.
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Was Josh Frydenberg a tennis player?
Mr Frydenberg was a keen tennis player throughout his childhood.
After finishing high school, he took a gap year to play tennis full-time in Australia and Europe.
Mr Frydenberg played against Mark Philippoussis (in a doubles match that he and his partner won) and Pat Rafter, and represented Australia at two World University Games.
Mr Frydenberg conceded that his ambition for tennis outweighed his actual talent and turned to other academic pursuits.
Does Josh Frydenberg have siblings?
Mr Frydenberg has a sister Lexi, who is a paediatrician in Melbourne.
What is Josh Frydenberg's religion?
Mr Frydenberg has proudly stated his Jewish identity as “absolutely critical” to his life.
“It’s been central to my upbringing and it has shaped the values that drive me today – family, learning, justice and importantly, learning from history,” he said.
Two of his great-grandparents and three great-aunts were killed by the Nazis at Auschwitz.
In 2015, Mr Frydenberg attended the commemorative ceremony for the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau at the site of the camp, reflecting it was “one of the most moving experiences of my life.”
When did Josh Frydenberg enter politics?
Between 1999 and 2004, Mr Frydenberg was a ministerial adviser in Canberra for the then Attorney General Daryl Williams, an advisor and senior adviser to the Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and a senior adviser to Prime Minister John Howard.
Following a brief stint as a jackaroo on a sheep station in South Australia, he joined Deutsche Bank as a Director of Global Banking in January 2005.
Mr Frydenberg sought preselection for the seat of Kooyong in 2006 but was defeated by sitting member Petro Georgiou.
After Mr Georgiou retired in 2010, Mr Frydenberg was preselected to run for the Liberal Party, winning the seat with 52.56 percent of the primary vote.
Following re-election to the seat of Kooyong in 2013, where he received the largest swing in votes to the Liberal Party in the seat since 1975, Mr Frydenberg was sworn in as a Parliamentary Secretary to newly-elected Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
In December 2014, Mr Frydenberg was sworn in as Assistant Treasurer in a ministerial reshuffle.
When Malcolm Turnbull overthrew Mr Abbott to become PM in September 2015, Mr Frydenberg was appointed the Minister for Resources, Energy and Northern Australia.
With the re-election of the Turnbull Government in 2016, Mr Frydenberg became the Minister for the Environment and Energy.
After Malcolm Turnbull resigned as liberal leader in August 2018, Mr Frydenberg was elected Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party and appointed Treasurer by newly-anointed prime minister Scott Morrison.
Is Josh Frydenberg in line to be the next PM?
Mr Frydenberg is widely seen as the heir apparent to the leadership of the Liberal Party.
Following the public scandal surrounding main leadership rival Christian Porter, Mr Frydenberg’s path to the leadership, should Scott Morrison be ousted, is clear.
Mr Frydenberg is seen as the leader of an “ambition faction” in the Victorian Liberal Party which is said to include ministers Greg Hunt, Alan Tudge, Dan Tehan and Michael Sukkar and a number of other Victorian backbenchers.
How much is Josh Frydenberg worth?
From his time in the banking industry and more than 10 years as a politician, Mr Frydenberg is estimated to be worth between $1.5-10 million.
He currently earns around $435,000 annually as Treasurer.
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