A HarperCollins book produced with outside assistance has drawn Josh Frydenberg back into public debate, with the text advancing the case for lifting the Goods and Services Tax and steering the Liberal Party toward what he regards as its core founding values.
Net debt as a share of GDP climbed from 18.5 per cent to 22 per cent across the four years Frydenberg held the treasurer's portfolio under the Morrison government, with the coalition departing office in 2022 at the higher figure. Public expenditure as a share of national output climbed from roughly 24.5 per cent to just above 26 per cent, with that proportion peaking beyond 31 per cent at the height of the pandemic.
JobKeeper, the wage subsidy programme whose cost analysts have placed among the highest ever recorded for a federal spending commitment, sits at the centre of ongoing assessments of Frydenberg's time in office. Questions about whether the programme was built with adequate safeguards surfaced after payments went to companies that later turned out to be ineligible, with no clear path available to recoup those funds.
The pre-election budget update that Frydenberg delivered in April 2022 — a point at which pandemic-related restrictions were being progressively lifted across much of the country — built an $80 billion deficit into its forward estimates for the 2022–23 financial year, a shortfall representing just over 3 per cent of GDP. Over the forward-estimates horizon, shortfalls accumulated to a combined $146.5 billion, with net debt on a path toward one-third of GDP and gross debt expected to clear the $1 trillion mark.
Frydenberg's push to raise the GST rate has drawn a rapid wave of political reaction, placing it among the more disputed elements of his current policy agenda. Following that announcement, Coalition figures — among them Opposition Leader Angus Taylor — went on record to say a GST increase was not part of their plans.
Members of the Labor party, including both backbenchers and ministers, drew on quotes and statements spanning more than ten years to build a coordinated push against any increase to the GST.
Chaney, who holds a seat in parliament as an independent, put forward analysis in 2025 examining a GST rate lifted to 15 per cent alongside options to narrow or eliminate existing exemptions. Modelled on a 15 per cent GST applied without any food carve-out, ten-year revenue forecasts pointed to roughly $780 billion, a figure supporters cited when making the case that offsetting transfers to welfare recipients and cuts to income tax were both financially achievable.
Projected at roughly $360 billion, the revenue reduction tied to the Stage 3 income tax cuts represented a substantial draw on public finances.
Alongside advocating for increased defence outlays, Frydenberg has entered a conversation around a portfolio where questions about cost overruns and the management of projects have persisted over time. No breakdown of how any extra defence spending would be paid for has appeared in his public remarks.
No announcement has been made about Frydenberg's plans to stand in the next federal election.
