Former federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg has urged the Albanese government to take a more direct and personal approach in negotiating with Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg over the social media giant’s commercial deals with Australian news publishers.

Frydenberg, who as treasurer installed the news media bargaining code three years ago during the pandemic, said Meta’s decision to pull out of its agreements with news organisations would leave a “billion-dollar black hole in public interest journalism”. Now chairman of Goldman Sachs Australia, Frydenberg also echoed the comments of another former Coalition treasurer, Nine chair Peter Costello, who on Monday said the media faced an “existential moment”.

“You need to talk to the heads of these organisations,” Frydenberg told the Australian Financial Review’s business summit in Sydney on Tuesday.

Brokering the deal involved “a lot of one-on-one” conversations, he added. “I was able to negotiate with Zuckerberg and [Google chief] Sundar [Pichai] to get these deals.

“I really hope the deal can get done one way or another, Google stays at the table and it becomes a win-win for Australia.”

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Google and Meta signed a series of deals with media companies in 2021 to pay about $250 million a year for their news content, but many of the agreements are due for renewal and the news providers want the government to maintain pressure for a commercial outcome.

Frydenberg helped smooth over tense talks between Meta and Google and Rod Sims, the then chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), regarding a new federal code that required the technology giants to pay for Australian media content.

Nine, the owner of this masthead, is among those to have a commercial deal with Meta, alongside Guardian Australia, the ABC, Seven West Media, News Corp, Network 10, Australian Community Media and others.