Joseph Benedict Hockey (born 2 August 1965) is an Australian former politician and diplomat. He was the Member of Parliament for North Sydney from 1996 until 2015. He was the Treasurer of Australia in the Abbott government from 18 September 2013 until September 2015 when he resigned from Cabinet, having refused an alternative offer from the incoming prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull. He previously served as the Minister for Human Services and Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations in the Howard government. He also served as Ambassador of Australia to the United States from January 2016 until January 2020.
Hockey's parliamentary resignation triggered a 2015 North Sydney by-election where he was succeeded by Trent Zimmerman, who had previously worked for Hockey as a staffer. His appointment as Ambassador of Australia to the United States was announced on 8 December 2015 to replace Kim Beazley, whose term ended in early 2016,Joe Hockey expected to be appointed to US ambassador post; Opposition questions Malcolm Turnbull's confidence in former treasurer: ABC 8 December 2015Trent Zimmerman preselected for Joe Hockey's safe Liberal seat of North Sydney: SMH 26 October 2015Joe Hockey announced as Australia's next ambassador to the United States: SMH 8 December 2015 and he assumed that position on 29 January 2016.Joe Hockey sworn in as US ambassador by Barack Obama His term as ambassador ended on 30 January 2020, and he was succeeded by Arthur Sinodinos the week after.
Early life and career Hockey was born the youngest of four siblings in North Sydney to an Australian mother, Beverley, and a Palestinian-Armenian father, Richard Hokeidonian, who was born in Palestine. His father's surname was anglicised to "Hockey" in 1948 after his arrival in Australia. He was named after Joseph Benedict Chifley, the post-war prime minister whose immigration policies allowed for his father to enter Australia.
Hockey attended St Aloysius' College, Milsons Point and the University of Sydney, residing at St John's College, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws. While at university he was President of the University of Sydney Students' Representative Council, and assisted in inviting Pope John Paul II to visit the University of Sydney during the 1986 Australian papal visit. In 1987, Hockey protested at Bob Hawke's introduction of university fees. Hockey's term as SRC president, besides the protests, included the renovation of the club's headquarters, a cutback on the expenses of Honi Soit, the closure of the SRC Women's Room, but the opening of a free legal advice service. Towards the end of his term as SRC President, the Australian Labor Party's Deputy Prime Minister Lionel Bowen phoned Hockey and invited him to join the ALP. Hockey researched the philosophies of John Stuart Mill and decided to join the Liberal Party. Upon graduating, Hockey worked as a banking and finance lawyer at Corrs Chambers Westgarth and subsequently as the Director of Policy to the Premier of New South Wales, before entering politics.
Political career
Hockey worked as a policy advisor to Premier John Fahey before the 1995 New South Wales state election. Hockey became the president of the NSW Young Liberals and had a position in Nick Greiner's state government, reforming the financial and business structure of the state.
Howard government Hockey was preselected as a Liberal Party of Australia candidate for the 1996 election in the Division of North Sydney when aged just 29. He faced little preselection competition, since the seat's incumbent independent, Ted Mack, was thought to be unbeatable. However, Mack did not renominate; had his intentions been known earlier, it was widely believed at the time that Hockey would have faced a more rigorous preselection contest for what has traditionally been a "blue ribbon" Liberal seat. As it was, Hockey all but assured himself of becoming the seat's next member with his preselection victory. "Traditional" two-party matchups during Mack's tenure had shown North Sydney as a fairly safe Liberal seat, and it had been a foregone conclusion that the seat would revert to the Liberals once Mack retired. In 1993, for instance, the Liberals would have held the seat on a traditional two-party margin of 9.5 percent–just on the edge of being safe. As expected, Hockey regained the seat for the Liberals on 65.6 percent of the two-party preferred vote. He actually won 57.8 percent of the primary vote, more than enough to win the seat outright without the need for preferences.
When contesting the 1996 election, Hockey purchased a bus and painted it in the colors of the North Sydney Bears. This move positioned him as an Independent and emphasized his local connections. Hockey would park the bus everywhere in his electorate to raise awareness. Robert Orrell, Hockey's campaign manager in 1995, states that Hockey presented himself as a Liberal in "John Howard" areas like Lane Cove which had recently been redistributed from Howard's seat of Bennelong. He branded himself as an independent in areas like North Sydney and McMahons Point. Hockey made use of his parents’ reputation within the local community and his business connections to successfully connect with supporters and volunteers - giving out umbrellas and other souvenirs. A key issue in the 1996 election was the issue of aircraft noise: Laurie Brereton, the ALP transport minister, had closed east–west runways and opened north–south runways at Sydney Airport, diverting aircraft noise from Labor seats to Liberal seats.
Soon after his election in 1996, He was appointed the chair of the Sydney Airport Community Forum. During this time, Hockey formed a friendship with Anthony Albanese, and Albanese took Hockey to his electorate to see the inequalities of the airport routing. Following this, Hockey worked to address inconsistencies in the airport noise amelioration program. Hockey and fellow "small-l liberals" Chris Gallus and Susan Jeanes founded the short-lived John Stuart Mill Society to combat the conservative Lyons Forum. Hockey made his maiden speech in September 1996, highlighting modern liberalism, composed of recognition of the rights of the individual, parliamentary democracy, and committing to improve society through reform. Hockey highlighted his father's heritage, and highlighted barriers against women achieving success. In the lead-up to the 1998 election, which Hockey characterised as "the GST election", despite being the minister in charge of the GST, Hockey stopped campaigning shortly before the election because he felt that talking about the GST was losing him votes.Devine, Frank. "LOSING IT." Quadrant Magazine 52, no. 3 (March 2008): 64-66. Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre, EBSCOhost (accessed 7 November 2015). He was appointed as the first Minister for Financial Services and Regulation portfolio from 1998 to 2001 and Minister for Small Business and Tourism (2001–04).
In January 2000, Hockey had done an interview with the John Laws program about the GST, confirming the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC)'s position of businesses being able to round up or down the price of goods and services when needed. This caused controversy, and The Daily Telegraph printed a story that declared that voters could be charged more than the 10% GST promised.
When HIH Insurance went bankrupt in March 2001, Joe Hockey was the minister responsible for the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), which oversaw HIH. Although Hockey's office had sought written assurances from HIH that everything was fine, the public felt that Hockey was to blame. Upon learning that the estimated damages were between $4-$8 billion, Hockey took this to the Cabinet and sought a bail out. Peter Costello advised that APRA should sort out HIH. After the collapse of HIH Insurance, Hockey became concerned about the NRMA, and called Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC), the ACCC, APRA and the Australian Taxation Office and instructed them to investigate NRMA Insurance thoroughly.
As part of his work as Tourism Minister, Hockey produced a White Paper analysing the tourism industry.
With the return of the Howard government in 2004, he was appointed as the first Minister for Human Services setting up a new health and welfare service delivery department, and took on the additional role of Minister Assisting the Minister for Workplace Relations in August 2006. He was elevated to the Cabinet in January 2007, when appointed Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service. Although North Sydney has long been a blue-ribbon Liberal seat, Hockey was the first person in over 60 years to be promoted to cabinet while holding the seat.
In 2004 as Human Services Minister, Hockey proposed an "Access Card" and spent $3 million advertising the card before submitting the legislation to parliament.Joe Hockey quits: how the man who could have been prime minister crashed and burned
Hockey regularly appeared on the Seven Network's morning program Sunrise in the "Big Guns of Politics" section debating the Opposition Leader, Kevin Rudd, drawing 20,000–30,000 additional viewers who would tune in specifically for that segment, until the arrangement was mutually terminated on 16 April 2007 following controversy over plans to stage a pre-dawn Anzac Day service in Vietnam. Hockey credits this show for introducing him to an audience who had no interest in politics.
Opposition In December 2007, Hockey was made Shadow Minister for Health and Ageing and took on the additional role in February 2008 as Manager of Opposition Business. In September 2008 he became Shadow Minister for Finance, Competition Policy and Deregulation. He became Shadow Treasurer in February 2009 when Julie Bishop stepped down from the portfolio.
Prior to his appointment as shadow treasurer there had been a move to get Hockey to transfer to New South Wales state politics to replace Barry O'Farrell as state Liberal leader and lead the Coalition to victory at the 2011 state election, which would have made Hockey the Premier of New South Wales. Hockey, however, denied any interest to move into state politics. The push to get Hockey into state politics came to an end when he was promoted to shadow treasurer as that placed him within striking distance of becoming federal leader.
Hockey's popularity among voters grew under the leadership of Malcolm Turnbull and, in October 2009, polls showed him as the preferred Liberal leader. However, Hockey announced that he had no intention to challenge for the leadership.
On 9 November 2009, Hockey gave a speech, "In Defence of God", at the Sydney Institute.
A Newspoll released on 30 November 2009 placed Hockey at 33%, Turnbull at 30% and Tony Abbott at 19%, when voters were asked who would be the "best person to lead" the Liberal Party. Speculation flourished that Hockey would challenge Turnbull for the leadership of the Liberal Party, and Hockey consulted senior party dignitaries such as Howard and Costello about whether he should run.
Hockey faced a dilemma. He had been a consistent supporter of the ETS. Running against Turnbull, a fellow moderate in the Liberal Party, would mean taking the leadership with the support of the party's right wing and climate change sceptics.
On 1 December 2009, Hockey chose to include his candidacy in a party room ballot to determine the leadership of the Liberal Party. The ballot was between Hockey, Turnbull and Abbott. Hockey was eliminated in the first round of the ballot, with the eventual winner being Abbott. Following the change of leadership, Hockey remained Shadow Treasurer.