Josh Frydenberg avoids awkward salary question ahead of federal budget

Josh Frydenberg says his upcoming budget will ease cost of living pressures on Aussie families – but how much can he understand on $433,000 a year?

It’s the one question that Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is coy about answering as he hammers home the theme of “cost of living pressures” on Australian families.

How does he stay in touch with the struggles of ordinary Australians when he earns $433,000 a year?

In an exclusive interview with news.com.au, Mr Frydenberg doesn’t want to say how much he earns, as he spouts facts and figures on every other subject in next week’s budget.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg earns more than $400,000 a year - something he’s not keen to touch on ahead of his ‘cost of living budget’. Picture: Supplied.

Asked how much he is paid, there’s a five-second pause and a sigh. “You can go and check that. More than most,’’ he said.

It’s over $400,000 a year isn’t it?

“I am a high income earner. We’re a two-income family. So higher than most. My wife’s salary is confidential. Mine is public,’’ he responds.

Australia’s average full-time salary climbed above $90,000 for the first time last year, according to figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

However, when the wages of both part-time and full-time workers were factored in, the average salary drops to $67,902, or $1306 before tax

In other words, the Treasurer earns five times the average full-time salary of a worker. The Prime Minister, who pockets $550,000 a year, earns six times the average full-time salary.

Petrol prices have soared across the country, with mororists being slugged more than $2.00 a litre. Picture: Tony Gough

A couple with two full-time average wages earns around $164,000.

Critics say it’s the politics of envy to talk about how much politicians are paid. But even if you accept they deserve to be paid for their hard work, it’s hard not to wonder just how out of touch they are with the struggles of the voters that put them there.

“I don’t think one’s own salary is indicative of whether or not you can get the settings right for the economy,’’ the Treasurer says.

“I fill up my own car. I do some grocery shopping and I buy my own coffee.”

Mr Frydenberg said he does some grocery shopping, but does not find himself fretting over the price of fresh food, which is currently skyrocketing. Picture: Tony Gough

Does he ever go to the supermarket and worry about the price of vegetables?

“I understand that prices have been going up. And my focus right now is to address those cost of living pressures,’’ he said.

The Treasurer says he does have relatives who are living on the pension and he accepts that “prices are high”.

“My job is to look at what is happening across the economy,” he said.

“What we’ll seek to do in this budget is to provide some cost of living relief. We’ll do that in a number of ways.”

Those measures are expected to include cash handouts to some families and fuel excise relief.

By the standards of previous Treasurers and Prime Ministers, Mr Frydenberg’s personal wealth is comparatively modest.

He bought a house in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs for $1.76 million and spent $75,000 on a renovation in 2016.

According to RP Data, it’s now worth $2.85 million. He has a mortgage. In line with his advice to families to shop around, it is not with a big bank.

According to his register of interests, his mortgage is with Liberty Financial, which currently offers rates from 2.59 per cent.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese earns $390,000 a year as opposition leader and has an impressive real estate portfolio. Last year, he sold a three-bedroom house in Sydney’s inner west for $2.35 million – more than double what he paid nine years ago.

The Marrickville investment property sold ahead of a scheduled auction after his divorce from wife Carmel Tebutt.

Anthony Albanese listed his Marrickville investment property in 2021, which sold for $2.35m

Former Treasurer Joe Hockey previously came under fire for being out of touch after claiming the Government’s planned fuel tax increase wouldn’t hurt poorer Australians.

“Well, change to the fuel excise does exactly that. The poorest people either don’t have cars or actually don’t drive very far in many cases. But, they are opposing what is meant to be, according to the Treasury, a progressive tax,’’ Mr Hockey said.

Treasurer Frydenberg isn’t about to make that mistake. He has ruled out a freeze in fuel indexation, the path pursued by John Howard in 2001 as compensation for the GST.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg in his Canberra office. Picture: Gary Ramage

But he is expected to deliver a short, sharp cut to fuel excise as a temporary measure, as revealed by news.com.au this week.

“The main thing I would say is what we will do will be temporary and it will be targeted and that’s all I can say,’’ Mr Frydenberg told news.com.au.

“A change in the fuel excise does affect people who purchase fuel.”

And one-off cash bonuses are also in the mix.

But the dangers for average earners in an environment where inflation and interest rates are rising but wages are not is that it doesn’t go very far.

“Cost of living pressure has been seriously exacerbated by nearly a decade of record or near-record low wages growth under this Government,” ACTU secretary Sally McManus said.

“One-off handouts aren’t going to fix the problem.”