Joe Hockey is hardly your typical Liberal politician. He was named after a Labor Prime Minister and his father was born and grew up in Palestine.
But within months, Joseph Benedict Hockey could have one of the toughest jobs in Canberra: the next Treasurer of Australia.
Getting there, though, has now been made much tougher by his old mate and sparring partner Kevin Rudd becoming Prime Minister again. What once seemed a landslide Liberal win is now a neck-and-neck race to the finish line.
And that’s not the only battle Joe Hockey has faced in recent times: late last year, after a lifelong fight with obesity, the federal member for North Sydney went into hospital for radical weight loss surgery.
Sunday Night guest reporter Peter FitzSimons is on the campaign trail with Hockey as prepares for the fight of his life. See another side of the (formerly) big man as FitzSimons speaks to longtime friend David Koch and wife Melissa, who’s just as financially canny as her Shadow Treasurer husband.
Sunday August 18, 2013
Reporter: Peter FitzSimons
Producer: Richard Andrews