How Josh Frydenberg is being punished by politics

Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg. Picture: Brendan Radke

Josh Frydenberg must be wondering what more he can do. Why isn’t anyone talking about ‘‘the world’s greatest treasurer’’?

The economy is roaring back: the December quarter growth rate of 3.1 per cent was better than any G7 country, tweeted the Prime Minister. Business confidence is returning, jobs are coming back.

The answer is politics. Australia’s pandemic and economic management has been close to exemplary. All hail JobKeeper. Yet two members of the government’s cabinet, Defence Minister Linda Reynolds and Attorney-General Christian Porter are running out of road. And in good measure, it has been the government playing politics, heightening expectations about public accountability, that has been the cause.

Australia's Attorney-General Christian Porter. Picture: AFP

This is a government, after all that forced the resignation of Australia Post chief executive Christine Holgate for handing out gold watches.

This is a government that found its top cop James Shipton came up short with his personal tax issues (despite best efforts of the Treasurer to smooth the ASIC chief’s brief return).

So when not one, but two #MeToo crises peak right around International Womens’ Day, it is hardly surprising that public and media pressure piles up.

What exactly do you have to do to be sacked as a minister these days?

Executives at NBN Co, which made a loss this year, received multi-million-dollar bonuses from the taxpayer. None of the executive team at Australia Post got ­bonuses, even though the organ­isation is widely acknowledged to have done an outstanding job with parcel deliveries through COVID, to the credit of the acting CEO Rodney Boys and head of community and consumer Nicole Sheffield. It is understood that both are in the mix for the CEO role.

Unfortunately, Australia Post made its own political misstep ahead of the last federal election. Chairman John Stanhope was already known to be close to labor’s Stephen Conroy. Presumably expecting a Shorten Labor victory, he oversaw the appointment of Phil Dalidakis, a former Victorian state Labor minister, as government relations manager.

The Morrison government’s problem now is the numbers. Linda Reynolds in the Senate is less of an issue but in the Reps, with Craig Kelly lost to the crossbenches, Christian Porter’s marginal seat of Pearce is becoming critical. Complicating matters is that the seat of Pearce itself could disappear if later this month the Australian Electoral Commission recommends that it be abolished due to population shifts, with voters redistributed to neighbouring seats.

Let us assume that minister Porter returns from sick leave and there is a redistribution. Had the historic rape allegation against Mr Porter not become public, he might well have stood in another Liberal seat around Perth. Another Liberal candidate would need to stand aside for the ‘‘good of the party’’, given what a strong performer he was. One wonders how that line will go down with the local members, given the latest toxic developments.

The Prime Minister is so far backing his Attorney-General — as the saying goes, don’t call an inquiry into anything that you don’t know the answer to — but the ongoing social media pile-on for an independent review only adds tension.

The Porter crisis has ricocheted out to business with the MinterEllison chief executive Annette Kimmitt stepping down on Wednesday after she sent out an all-staff email that spoke of the hurt that had been triggered in her on hearing that the firm would be acting for Christian Porter.

We don’t yet know all the background to this story. It is usual protocol for a partner who brings in controversial new business to open a file which is then ticked off by the firm. It is understood that Ms Kimmitt first heard the news in the press and was left to deal with a barrage of internal angst from some staff.

There are sometimes good reasons for rejecting new business, including conflicts of interest. This is not like investment banking. Once a law firm signs up a new client, it cannot just drop them if that client gets too hot.

It might well be that partners of a law firm making tens of millions from the federal government would see taking on Christian Porter as potentially very damaging, particularly if there was a risk of a change in government.

Recent polls show that it is the state premiers whom voters are crediting with the strong management of the pandemic and not so much the federal government. An election forced on the government earlier than planned would be need to be very hard fought.

It seems only yesterday Josh Frydenberg was at a local cafe, sharing news of his new appointment as treasurer with the media.

“It’s great to be here in Kooyong with my good friend, Peter Costello, Australia’s greatest treasurer, who delivered 10 budget surpluses.”

That was August 2018. Considering what has happened since, Josh Frydenberg is certainly on the job. That surplus, however, so tantalisingly close in 2018, is far, far away.