Former federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg has found his next job after losing his seat in the 2022 federal election, joining investment bank Goldman Sachs as a senior regional adviser for Asia Pacific.
Frydenberg was defeated by independent candidate Dr Monique Ryan in her seat of Kooyong in Melbourne, and was one of the leading Liberal MPs to lose to so-called Green Green independents backed by wealthy political activist Simon Holmes in Court.
Josh Frydenberg in Goldman Sachs’ Melbourne office after joining the investment bank as an adviser.
Goldman Sachs said in an announcement Thursday that Frydenberg was “widely recognized for his effective management and leadership of the nation’s economy during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Goldman Sachs Australia chief executive Simon Rothery said Frydenberg would focus on working with the investment bank’s corporate and institutional clients and would not work on any government-related business.
“Josh has impeccable relationships in the business community. Right now, the main concerns for clients are geopolitical risks in Europe and North Asia, the uncertain economic outlook and rising energy prices. As former treasurer and federal energy minister, he brings a unique perspective to all these challenges,” Rothery said.
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Goldman Sachs understands it could lose the former treasurer if he decides to re-enter the political arena in the 2025 election. Much depends on how well Frydenberg settles into the well-paid job, which will involve a lot of travel around Asia, the United States and Europe, compared to the routine of federal politics.
A key issue is a likely redistribution of Victorian electors with the state set to lose at least one, if not two, seats. These seats are likely to come from the area centered on Frydenberg’s former electorate of Kooyong and neighboring Higgins, Chisholm and Goldstein. This problem will not be solved until 2024.
The political landscape is likely to be very different to this year, when Scott Morrison’s premiership became a major issue in Kooyong which was won by Ryan by 6,000 votes.