[3] 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,[4][5][6][7] and he assumed that position on 29 January 2016.

[10][11] He was named after Joseph Benedict Chifley, the post-war prime minister whose immigration policies allowed for his father to enter Australia.

[15]: 47  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.

[15]: 48–49  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.

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.

[15]: 98–99  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.

[15]: 102  Hockey made his maiden speech in September 1996,[20] highlighting modern liberalism,[15]: 103–104  composed of recognition of the rights of the individual, parliamentary democracy, and committing to improve society through reform.

[23] 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.

[27] 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,[28] until the arrangement was mutually terminated on 16 April 2007 following controversy over plans to stage a pre-dawn Anzac Day service in Vietnam.

[32] 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.

[33] Hockey's popularity among voters grew under the leadership of Malcolm Turnbull and, in October 2009, polls showed him as the preferred Liberal leader.

"[35][36]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.

He told ABC TV's Q&A audience on 7 March 2011 that corporate Australia had fallen behind in female boardroom representation and if companies failed to meet a reasonable target within a period of time then "more punitive measures" needed to be taken by parliament.

[43] The speech defended anti-terrorism laws and rejected a hypothetical bill of rights, while criticising increased police powers.

In 2014, the "end of the age of entitlement" was used to justify the government refusing financial assistance to Holden in South Australia and SPC Ardmona in Victoria and explaining why they could not participate in Barnaby Joyce's proposal for a bail out of farmers.

[54][55] Hockey's approach has been described by sociology lecturer Verity Archer as being like former US President Richard Nixon's, "using claims of a budget emergency" to cut welfare.

[57][58] In May 2014, Fairfax media published a story stating that political donors to the North Sydney Forum were able to have "VIP" meetings with Hockey, under the title "Treasurer for Sale".

The austere budget faced widespread criticism and was overwhelmingly rejected by the Australian public as reflected in all opinion polls after its release.

[60][61][62] Michael Pascoe, writing for the Sydney Morning Herald, regards Hockey as being saddled with policies that were fiscally irresponsible, but designed to win support, giving as an example the scrapping of the price on carbon.

[67] This led to criticism of Hockey by members of the Coalition, who regarded the renewed push for a republic to be a distraction from the government's priorities.

[72] Hockey resigned from parliament on 23 October 2015[73] which triggered the 2015 North Sydney by-election which was won by Trent Zimmerman.

[3] It was announced on 8 December 2015 that Hockey would become the next Ambassador of Australia to the United States when Kim Beazley's term ended in early 2016.

[5][6][7] In his new role as Ambassador, Hockey wrote a response to a New York Times editorial about cuts to climate change research at CSIRO.

[77] It was previously reported that he was planning to take up a part-time position as a guest lecturer on public policy and politics in an American university.

[79] Hockey wrote an opinion piece in The Sydney Morning Herald supporting Joe Biden for President of the United States.

[15]: 54  On 18 December 1994, Hockey married Babbage, an investment banker, later head of foreign exchange and global finance at Deutsche Bank.

[87] In 2014, Hockey launched defamation proceedings against Fairfax Media over an article published in its newspapers, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Canberra Times, titled Treasurer for sale,[88] which he said falsely implied that he accepted bribes paid to influence his decisions and that he corruptly sold privileged access to a select group of Liberal Party donors.

A trial was held to determine whether the allegations were defensible in March 2015 in the NSW Supreme Court before Justice Richard White, where Hockey argued that false allegations of the nature contained in the article, and the conduct of Fairfax during the proceedings, evidenced a malicious intent to smear his otherwise good reputation and consequently would justify the award of aggravated damages.