Hendy worked in public administration and policy development at Federal and State levels, including periods in the Commonwealth Treasury, New South Wales Cabinet Office and as Chief of Staff to the Minister for Defence, Workplace Relations and Education, Peter Reith. In 2001, Hendy was implicated in the Children Overboard affair as Chief of Staff to the Minister for Defence. A Senate Committee inquiry into the incident found the Committee did not hear "any compelling evidence that Mr. Reith’s staff acted in any way other than honestly and in good faith." In June 2002 Hendy became Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. During his tenure at ACCI, Hendy was an advocate for workplace relations improvements. In 2006 he was commissioned by the Federal Treasurer to co-author the International Comparison of Australia's Taxes report, urging long term taxation reform in Australia. In 2005, Hendy was included in the Australian Financial Review's Inside Power magazine, which lists the most influential people in the Australian political system, as a "key player" in the then industrial relations debate by "straddling both business and government." In January 2008 Hendy left the ACCI to take up a position as Chief of Staff to Liberal leader, Brendan Nelson. He was one of three ACCI officials who joined Nelson's staff at the time. Hendy has at various times been a director of Standards Australia, the International Chamber of Commerce, the Australian Institute of International Affairs, the Australian Made Campaign Limited, the National Business Action Fund, a governor of the National Institute of Labour Studies, Chairman of the Joint Policy Committee of the Confederation of Asia-Pacific Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the Australian representative on the Business and Industry Advisory Committee of the OECD.
Parliament
At the 2013 federal election, Hendy successfully contested the bellwether seat of Eden-Monaro; winning the seat with a two-party vote of 50.6 percent from a two-party swing of 4.9 percent. In 2015, following the release of journalist Peter van Onselen's book, Battleground: Why the Liberal Party Shirtfronted Tony Abbott, Hendy came under media attention for his role in the September 2015 Liberal Party leadership spill that saw Malcolm Turnbull replace Tony Abbott as party leader. In his book, van Onselen revealed a meeting of Turnbull supporters took place in Hendy's Queanbeyan home the night before Turnbull mounted his leadership challenge. Hendy was promoted to Assistant Minister for Productivity following the leadership change to Malcolm Turnbull in September 2015 in the First Turnbull Ministry. On 13 February 2016, it was announced that Hendy would be appointed as Assistant Cabinet Secretary and Assistant Minister to the Minister for Finance following a rearrangement in the ministry. The federal election held on 2 July 2016 saw Hendy lose the seat, with Eden-Monaro returning to Labor's Mike Kelly.
