Josh Frydenberg closes down chatter about his political comeback

Former Treasurer and Deputy Liberal Leader Josh Frydenberg will not attempt a political comeback at the next federal election, despite speculation he would seek to re-open nominations for his former Victorian seat of Kooyong. 

Since the Victorian draft electoral redistribution was released last week, commentators and politicians have gone into overdrive speculating whether the former deputy leader would push for the Liberal pre-selection in Kooyong to be re-opened. 

The redistribution abolished the seat of Higgins and dramatically re-shaped the boundaries in Kooyong - the seat Frydenberg lost to Teal independent Monique Ryan at the last election. 

The Liberal Party has selected Oxford graduate Amelia Hamer, 31, to contest Kooyong, and twisting her arm to step aside would be a shocking look for a party lacking female representation. 

Mr Frydenberg wants to continue with his burgeoning business career - he is a senior executive at Goldman Sachs - and he also understands that a comeback would be extremely difficult to orchestrate, given pre-selections in Victoria have already been conducted. 

Party insiders expect Mr Frydenberg to formally rule out any interest in re-contesting the seat in the coming days. 

'If he doesn't it will only reflect badly on him', one senior Liberal pointedly told Daily Mail Australia. 

Some senior Liberals want the distraction to end so the focus can return to the problems the Labor government is having, especially in the immigration portfolio.  

Rumours of a potential comeback gained pace over the weekend when former cabinet minister Karen Andrews suggested that a Frydenberg comeback should be accommodated, but today senior Victorian Liberals, including Senator Jane Hume, have poured cold water on the idea. 

Ms Andrews has been a vocal critic of Peter Dutton and Scott Morrison since the 2022 election defeat and is retiring at the next election. 

'It was just another parting shot', one Liberal MP told Daily Mail Australia. 

A member of Mr Dutton's shadow cabinet told Daily Mail Australia: 'A Josh comeback would be a circus and only cause speculation about who leads the party if Peter doesn't win. It is the last thing we need when we have a real chance of making Labor a one term government.'

While a Frydenberg return would certainly add depth to the opposition line up, as a candidate he wouldn't join the opposition frontbench until after the election. 

In victory Mr Frydenberg is unlikely to hold as senior positions and portfolios as he did during Scott Morrison's prime ministership. 

The current shadow treasurer is Angus Taylor, the current deputy Liberal leader is Sussan Ley. Neither is willing to voluntarily step aside for Mr Frydenberg.  

If the Liberals lose the election on the back of a poor electoral performance that would make it hard for Mr Frydenberg to win back his seat, even if in doing so he would be a genuine shot at the opposition leadership in the wake of defeat. 

These are all factors the former Treasurer weighed up before deciding he is happy leaving his political career in his past, for now at least.