Yahoo Finance Frydenberg’s $400,000 salary and other lesser-known facts
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is the man in focus when the Federal Budget is announced, but not much is known about the personal life of one of the most prominent figures in the country.
Perhaps the only publicly known detail is that his salary exceeds $400,000 a year, which is almost five times the national average for a full-time worker in Australia ($90,000), according to figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Yet, the Treasurer personally prefers to remain guarded about his remuneration.
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In a recent interview with news.com.au, Frydenberg agreed he was "a high-income earner".
He also emphasised that his was a two-income family and therefore its cumulative income was higher than most others. Frydenberg said his wife’s salary was "confidential" but his was "public’’ and there for everyone to see.
While most of Frydenberg's life remains private, here are some lesser known and interesting facts about his life which he has shared sparingly.
Humble beginnings
In his first speech to Parliament - on October 22, 2010 - as the elected Member for Kooyong, Frydenberg revealed his grandparents on both sides were migrants from Europe.
"They arrived while Europe was plunging into darkness," he said.
"Like so many other immigrants to our great shores, all of my grandparents came here with nothing.
"My grandparents on both sides worked hard, determined to give their children a better start in life."
Though his parents grew to be distinguished professionals in their fields — his mother a psychologist and University of Melbourne professor and his father a general surgeon — Frydenberg came from a humble background.
Citizenship was questioned
Frydenberg’s mother was a Jewish Hungarian who arrived in Australia in 1950 as a stateless child from a refugee camp after escaping the Holocaust.
His father, also Jewish, emigrated to Australia from Poland.
During the 2017/18 Australian parliamentary eligibility crisis, questions were raised about Frydenberg's citizenship owing to his descent.
Frydenberg was taken to court over the issue by a constituent, Michael Staindl, following the 2019 election.
It was eventually ruled that Frydenberg was eligible to sit in Parliament.
He almost dropped out of school to play tennis
A keen tennis player throughout his childhood, Frydenberg tried to persuade his parents to let him drop out of high school to pursue a career in the sport.
They refused to let him drop out, but that didn't stop him from playing professional tennis in Australia and Europe after finishing Year 12.
He went on to play against Mark Philippoussis and Pat Rafter, and represented Australia at two World University Games.
He is highly educated
As a primary school student he attended Bialik College in the Melbourne suburb of Hawthorn and then completed his secondary schooling at Mt Scopus College in Burwood.
He holds honours degrees in economics and law from Monash University and has also completed his Masters in International Relations at Oxford.
While at Monash University, he was not only a volunteer reader for the radio station 3RPH (Radio for the Print Handicapped), but also a volunteer coach for the Kids Tennis Foundation, where he taught tennis to young people with an intellectual disability.
Frydenberg also earned a Masters of Public Administration degree from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.
He worked as a jackaroo on a sheep station
After his final stint as senior adviser to then-prime minister John Howard - between 1999 and 2004 - Frydenberg took a hiatus and spent a month in South Australia, where he worked as a jackaroo on a sheep station.
Following this break, he joined Deutsche Bank as director of global banking before returning to join the Parliament again in 2010.
He's a keen photographer
Among other things, the Treasurer is also an avid photographer.
In 2009, he hosted an exhibition featuring his work at a gallery in Richmond. The proceeds from the exhibition were donated to charity.
He prefers to keep his family 'private'
in 2010, Frydenberg married Amie - a lawyer who has been a partner at Lander & Rogers for 17 years.
The couple have two children, Gemma and Blake, who are said to be very attached to their father.
In an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald, when asked if he had a pact with his wife over the privacy of their family, Frydenberg admitted he preferred it that way.
"I’m very fortunate to have a supportive family, but it is hard being away so much," he said.
"Often, I will leave to go to Canberra on a Sunday and my five-year-old son will grab my leg as I say goodbye, which hurts."
Melbourne home worth $2.85 million
Apart from yearly earnings, the Treasurer owns a house in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, which he purchased for $1.76 million in 2016.
It is now said to be worth $2.85 million.
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