The Players

Josh Frydenberg.
The Treasurer.

He held the purse for the whole Morrison government. He set up the taskforce that planned the care market, opened every foreign deal to review, and paid out JobKeeper without a clawback.

Now he chairs Goldman Sachs in Australia.

Newsprint cut-out of Josh Frydenberg’s head and shoulders.
$19b

In JobKeeper paid to companies whose turnover went up while they were getting it.[4]

$0

The foreign investment screening threshold he set on 29 March 2020.[3]

28

Community foundations his March 2022 Budget promised tax-deductible status by name.[6]

$5m

For the social impact investing taskforce he set up in 2019.[2]

What He Did

  1. 24 August 2018He becomes Treasurer when Morrison becomes prime minister.[1]
  2. 3 April 2019With Paul Fletcher and Jane Hume he announces a $5 million Social Impact Investing Taskforce and $14.1 million for payment-by-results trials. Michael Traill chairs it. The Instigators[2]
  3. 29 March 2020He drops the screening threshold for foreign investment to $0, so every foreign deal needs approval.[3] What came next
  4. 2020 and 2021JobKeeper costs $89 billion. The Parliamentary Budget Office finds at least $38 billion of the payments it examined went to companies whose turnover never fell below the thresholds, and $19 billion to companies whose turnover went up. Profitable companies are not made to pay it back.[4]
  5. March 2022His Budget promises to write up to 28 community foundations into tax law by name, including Hands Across Canberra.[6] The Canberra Group
  6. 31 March 2022His cost of living law writes the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation into the tax law by name, for gifts with no end date.[5] Every listing
  7. 21 May 2022He loses Kooyong.[7]
  8. September 2023Goldman Sachs makes him chairman of its Australian business. He rules out a return to politics.[7]

Questions for a Real NACC

  • Which companies kept JobKeeper while their turnover went up, and which of them were care providers.
  • Which foreign takeovers of care providers he approved while every deal had to be screened, and on whose advice.
  • Who asked for the Ramsay Centre to be written into the tax law, and what Treasury told him.
  • What dealings Goldman Sachs has had with the Commonwealth, the Future Fund and care providers since he joined.
Scott MorrisonMinister of everything. Read it The PlayersEveryone on the list. Read it

Sources

  1. Parliamentary Handbook, Morrison ministries. https://handbook.aph.gov.au/ministries/government-ministries/71
  2. Paul Fletcher, Josh Frydenberg and Jane Hume, Morrison Government establishes Social Impact Investing Taskforce, 3 April 2019. https://formerministers.dss.gov.au/18766/morrison-government-establishes-social-impact-investing-taskforce/
  3. Holding Redlich, Enhanced foreign investment scrutiny during COVID-19 crisis, 1 April 2020. https://www.holdingredlich.com/enhanced-foreign-investment-scrutiny-during-covid-19-crisis
  4. ABC News, At least $38b in JobKeeper went to companies where turnover did not fall below thresholds, data finds, 2 November 2021. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-02/38b-in-jobkeeper-went-to-companies-where-turnover-did-not-fall-/100586310
  5. Josh Frydenberg, Parliament passes legislation to lower costs and support Australians, March 2022; Treasury Laws Amendment (Cost of Living Support and Other Measures) Act 2022, Schedule 3. https://ministers.treasury.gov.au/ministers/josh-frydenberg-2018/media-releases/parliament-passes-legislation-lower-costs-and-support https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2022A00014/asmade/2022-03-31/text/original/epub/OEBPS/document_1/document_1.html
  6. Michael Sukkar, Morrison Government backs community foundations with DGR status, 2022–23 Budget; Australian Taxation Office, DGR for community foundations. https://ministers.treasury.gov.au/ministers/michael-sukkar-2019/media-releases/morrison-government-backs-community-foundations-dgr https://www.ato.gov.au/api/public/content/0-2b90db97-d24f-4eb5-b351-944c755ecdb6
  7. ABC News, Josh Frydenberg to become Goldman Sachs Australia chairman, rules out political return, 21 September 2023. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-09-21/josh-frydenberg-goldman-sachs-opts-against-political-return/102883634
  8. Photo: julian meehan from Melbourne, Australia, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cut out and halftoned by Enough. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Josh_Frydenberg_(32654447397)_(cropped).jpg

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