Nomination as Australian Ambassador to the United States of America

I am greatly honoured by the Australian Government’s decision to nominate me as our country’s next Ambassador to the United States of America commencing in March.

Australia currently faces its most challenging security and diplomatic environment for many decades. Our national interest continues to be served, as it has for decades past, by the deepest and most effective strategic engagement of the United States in our region. Our alliance isn’t merely grounded in our common security and economic interests, but also across generations of friendship between our peoples and our shared values of freedom, democracy and the universality of human rights.

Australians may know that I have lived and worked in the United States for most of the past decade, first at the Harvard Kennedy School researching US-China relations, followed by the last eight years at the Asia Society in New York – established some 65 years ago as an American institution focused on international political and cultural relations, now with 270 staff across fifteen centres worldwide. This has included serving as inaugural president of the Asia Society Policy Institute since January 2015, before being announced as global president of the Asia Society in 2020. I am also the founding chair of the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Centre for China Analysis.

I am immensely proud of this work, just as I am proud of all the dedicated professionals with whom I have worked over these many years. In some ways, my new position will not be dissimilar to the work I have been undertaking at Asia Society to support greater cooperation between the US and the countries of our region – experience which should hold me in good stead for the challenge ahead.

Over the past decade, I have had the pleasure of building relationships with Republicans and Democrats across politics, and have developed close personal ties with American business, civil society and the media. As the Australian Government’s representative in Washington, I look forward to continuing the work of Ambassador Sinodinos in strengthening the bonds between our two countries.

I also look forward to returning to the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, where my diplomatic career began in 1981. I will of course comply fully with all DFAT and APS guidelines to ensure any institutional associations I retain are consistent with my obligations as Ambassador.

My former prime ministerial office in Queensland will continue to perform the range of non-partisan functions related to my time in government such as managing records, liaising with community organisations, assisting media and academics with historical research, and supporting bipartisan causes such as Indigenous reconciliation and the teaching of Asian languages in Australian schools. This is consistent with past practice where former prime ministers have undertaken diplomatic assignments for previous governments. It will also prevent DFAT resources being diverted to these tasks.