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By Rodrigo Santos Andrade
Politics with Michelle Grattan: Josh Frydenberg plans to keep speaking out
visibility comment0 event October 12, 2026 timer 19:53
The former treasurer and deputy Liberal leader said he’s still deciding whether to make a political comeback, which he’ll announce in the new year.
Josh Frydenberg has told The Conversation he will keep speaking out on the need for stronger economic reform, including raising the goods and service tax (GST) – despite his proposal being shot down by Liberal leader Angus Taylor.
Frydenberg said Taylor’s immediate rejection of lifting the GST would not put him off bringing it up again: “I’m not troubled by that, and it’s not like it’s unexpected either.”
Frydenberg, who is the party’s former deputy leader and federal treasurer, was speaking to The Conversation’s politics podcast to mark Tuesday’s release of his new memoir, A Grateful Son.
Frydenberg is open about the fact he’s still deciding whether he will make a political comeback. In both his book and in this podcast, Frydenberg offers a sweeping blueprint for the Liberal Party’s revival in the face of crumbling voter support.
But Frydenberg insisted his announcement about whether he’ll try to recapture his former seat of Kooyong, lost to teal independent Monique Ryan in 2022, will come next year.
[It] is ultimately a family decision, because life in the political world is [a] very different one to the private sector. It’s all consuming, it’s a long haul. But it’s also got enormous rewards in terms of what you can achieve.
[…] The party will make its decision about pre-selection at some point next year. Again, the election is not due [until] early 2028. And for me, I will make my decision at the appropriate time, which will be in the new year.
Yet this book could also prove be counterproductive, in pushing a program too radical for today’s political times that will frighten many in the parliamentary Liberal party.
Some Liberals are frustrated and angry at the distraction the book will cause, given the heightened speculation about Frydenberg’s future will intensify over the months, potentially undermining Taylor. Coincidentally, the timing of its release comes just as the government is under pressure over measures hitting small business, from card surcharges to trusts. The government has delightedly seized on it.
Right now, Frydenberg is the man standing on the 10-metre diving board: torn between taking the leap to rejoin politics, keeping alive his prime ministerial dream – or stepping back for good, avoiding the high risk and family sacrifice involved in a comeback.
On why we need more ‘honest conversations’
In A Grateful Son, Frydenberg writes:
We need a considered but ambitious national debate about lifting the GST and removing some exemptions, with a significant portion of that additional revenue to fund a major reduction in income taxes.
Liberal leader Angus Taylor has said he would welcome back Frydenberg, if he were to contest a seat at the next federal election – but then unequivocally rejected his former colleague’s idea of raising the GST, saying:
We will not be raising the GST in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis. That we won’t do.
Asked about that immediate rejection, Frydenberg responded:
I’m not troubled by that and it’s not like it’s unexpected either. My point is serious economists, who have looked at these issues from an evidence-based perspective, say this is a debate we need to have.
[…] If it was easy, then lots of people would have done it before. But that’s not to say that I won’t continue to raise it in the right forums, just like others have before me.
Frydenberg said Australia needed to have more “honest conversations” about how to improve the economy and fund government services:
I think for too long our leaders have sought to promote reassurance over honesty when it comes to these economic and social debates. And what I mean by that is to tell the public, ‘well, you can have it all and it’s all going to be OK in the end’. But that is not the case.
[…] We do need to have honest conversations about where we can find real savings, and how we can get back to balanced budgets and indeed surplus budgets. And I believe that if you have that conversation in the right way, with the right explanations, that the public will understand that is in their best interest. That the Albanese [government’s] higher spending is contributing to higher inflation and higher inflation hurts the consumers, it hurts the mums and dads out there.
Warning against chasing One Nation to the right
Frydenberg has another strong message for Taylor, who at the weekend told the Conservative Political Action Conference: “the Coalition is once again conviction-led and unashamedly on the right”.
Frydenberg told The Conversation:
I would just point out that the Liberal Party has been at its best when, to use the John Howard term, [it’s been] a broad church.
Where we’ve been a place where people with more conservative values and people with small-l liberal values have been able to find their rightful seat in the same place, pursuing the same policies and objectives. And that’s been an enduring strength of the Liberal Party. And we need to maintain that strength for the Liberal Party, because it actually is what separates us from the other side of politics.
He warns the Liberals against “chasing” One Nation, even though he doesn’t see One Nation’s support falling anytime soon.
It’s important for the Coalition to adopt its policies, argue for them strongly, not chase One Nation, not be obsessed with One Nation. But to be just better at what they do, because we are a party of government.
Weighing up a return to ‘the hard grind’
Frydenberg said his mother had joked she would like to send Monique Ryan a thank you letter, because losing his seat to Ryan had “offered me over the last four years an opportunity that I wouldn’t have had if I’d remained in politics”.
So it’s been a great four years that I’ve had. But I’ll need to weigh it all up when I make my decision. And nobody, not least me, believes that it would be easy to come back, win a seat off the teals, or get back into parliament and play a leading role in helping the Coalition get back into government. None of that is easy. It’s a hard grind. Politics has always been a hard grind.
There’s plenty of ups, but there’s also plenty of downs. And they’re all things that you need to adapt to as part of what is the political process. But like I said earlier, given an opportunity in government, given the challenges Australia faces, there’s a huge amount of work to do. And the upside for the country, and for any individual who contributes to that, is huge.
Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Tags: Academic Journalism, The Conversation, The Conversation Academic News
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