PM Treasury appointment just wrong: Hockey Joe Hockey says Kevin Rudd's appointment of Jim Murphy (pic) as his chief of staff is a "joke." SHADOW treasurer Joe Hockey believes Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has politicised the department of Treasury by hiring one of its senior officials as his chief of staff. Mr Rudd announced on Wednesday he had appointed Treasury markets group executive director Jim Murphy to run his office, after having been a key backroom figure in helping his government during the global financial crisis. But Mr Hockey described the appointment as a "joke." He said Mr Murphy is meant to be running the Treasury's market division. "He has been plucked out during a period of market volatility, during a period where there are significant transitional changes in relation to the management of financial services," Mr Hockey told reporters in Sydney on Thursday. He has been plucked out to go and run Kevin Rudd's political office, the most senior official in that office, it's just wrong.