Senior Executive Service
Band 1
Juliette Hubbard has been promoted to regional/branch manager at the National Indigenous Australians Agency.
Amara Torres Santelices becomes assistant secretary, governance branch, at Treasury.
Daniel Slater has been made general counsel at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal within Attorney-General’s.
Phillip Boxall is branch head within the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.
Britt Ryan is now assistant secretary, technology security policy, at the Department of Home Affairs.
Band 2
The Department of Veterans’ Affairs has made three key appointments: Katrina Jocumsen is chief people officer, Yvette Simms is first assistant secretary in the technology and finance division, and Luke Brown is first assistant secretary in the policy division.
Belinda Campbell has become first assistant secretary at the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations.
Kathryn Wandmaker is deputy chief executive officer at the Australian Public Service Commission.
Wong appoints seven senior diplomats
Foreign minister Penny Wong has appointed seven new diplomats, including key strategic postings in the Asia-Pacific and Middle East.
Meaghan Shaw will be Australia’s next consul-general in Chengdu, covering the south-western Chinese provinces of Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou, and the municipality of Chongqing.
Shaw joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) in 2013 and was most recently the deputy director of the Victorian state office. Prior to working at DFAT, she was a journalist and media adviser.
She previously served overseas as first secretary for Public Affairs at the Australian Embassy in Beijing. Shaw replaces Adelle Neary, who has served in the position since 2021.
Joining Shaw in China will be Timothy Kendall, Australia’s next consul-general in Guangzhou. He will be responsible for advancing Australia’s interests in Guangdong, Fujian, Hunan, Guangxi and Hainan provinces.
Kendall is a career public servant and was most recently acting assistant secretary for DFAT’s South-East Asia maritime branch. He has previously served overseas in China and India.
Elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific, Kirsten Fletcher will assume the role of consul-general in Phuket, and Brek Batley will be the next high commissioner to Tonga.
Fletcher replaces Matt Barclay, who has served in the role since 2019, working on Australia’s rapidly growing trade relationship with Thailand. He has previously served in Bangkok and was most recently in the consular emergency centre.
Batley is a senior career officer with DFAT and was most recently assistant secretary of the Solomon Islands Branch. He replaces Rachael Moore, who has been in the role since 2021.
He has previously served overseas as ambassador to the Marshall Islands, and has had postings in Pakistan, Papua New Guinea and Afghanistan.
Ian McConville will take on one of DFAT’s most challenging postings in Iran, where Australia has maintained a diplomatic presence since 1968.
McConville will provide consular assistance to Australians, diplomatically focusing on human rights, regional conflict, nuclear non-proliferation, people smuggling and terrorism.
McConville is a senior career officer with DFAT and was most recently chief of protocol. He has previously served as high commissioner to Nigeria and Mauritius, and served at diplomatic missions in the Korea, Switzerland (UN), Cambodia and Pakistan.
He replaces Lyndall Sachs who has been in Iran since 2019.
Australia’s next ambassador to Spain will be Rosemary Morris-Castico, replacing Sophia McIntyre.
As ambassador to Spain, she will also be accredited to Equatorial Guinea and Andorra.
Morris-Castico is currently assistant secretary at DFAT’s European Union branch. She has previously served overseas as Chargé d’Affaires at the Australian Embassy in Madrid and had postings in the USA and Mexico.
Assistant secretary of the Indo-Pacific economic and supply chains branch at DFAT Andrew Martin will head to South America as Australia’s next ambassador to Chile and Ecuador.
Martin has previously served in Australia’s mission to the World Trade Organisation in Geneva, in Fiji and Venezuela, and has been a senior negotiator and ministerial adviser on multiple Australian trade agreements.
He replaces Todd Mercer, who has been in the role since 2020.
Industrial Court of NSW restored
The NSW government has endorsed three highly experienced barristers as appointees to the new Industrial Court of NSW.
The Industrial Court, established last year by the Industrial Relations Amendment Act 2023, will be the specialised venue for industrial relations in NSW. It will resolve industrial disputes, and deal with work health and safety matters.
It will act as a superior court of record, with equivalent status to the Supreme Court and the Land and Environment Court.
Ingmar Taylor, a nationally recognised expert in employment law and work health and safety, has been appointed president of the IRC and a judge of the Industrial Court.
David Chin, a specialist in work health and safety, industrial, employment and discrimination law, who co-authored The Modern Contract of Employment, is vice-president and a judge of the Industrial Court.
Jane Paingakulam, who has practised primarily in criminal law and provided advice to government agencies on public sector issues, is deputy president and a judge of the Industrial Court.
The NSW Industrial Court will hear all industrial relations matters relating to NSW State Government and Local Government employees. Private sector employees will remain under the Fair Work Commission.
The former Industrial Court was abolished in 2016.
Tasmania picks head of Premier and Cabinet
Kathrine Morgan-Wicks is the new secretary of the Tasmanian Department of Premier and Cabinet.
Morgan-Wicks is a veteran public servant, having served as secretary for the Department of Health since 2019. She previously held senior positions in the departments of Justice, and Treasury and Finance, as well as senior executive and legal roles within the Commonwealth.
She spent 13 years at ASIC working as a senior executive leader before moving to Tasmania in 2013.
McLeay sails into maritime council role
Former federal speaker Leo McLeay has been appointed as an Australian National Maritime Museum council member for a three-year term.
The former director and deputy chair of the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust was MP for Grayndler (1979-1993) and Watson (1993-2004) and served as speaker of the House of Representatives in 1989 and from 1990 to 1993.
McLeay was the first Australian deputy chair of the International Parliamentary Union and co-founded the Asia Pacific Parliamentary Forum with former Japanese PM Yasuhiro Nakasone in 1992.
Russell to sit on NBN Co board
Telecommunications veteran Kevin Russell has been named as a non-executive director to the NBN Co Limited board.
Russell has been Vocus Group’s managing director, Telstra’s group executive of retail and Optus’s chief country officer. He also held various CEO roles in the Hutchison Whampoa Group.
Russell, who began his three-year term on the NBN Co board this week, replaces Andrew Dix.
King to NCEVER leadership
The National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) has appointed John King as managing director.
King will replace Simon Walker in July. He is currently chief data officer at Seer Analytics after a long career in the public service. He was an executive director at the Victorian Department of Health and South Australian Department of Skills and Employment.
King spent five years at the Department of Education and Training in Victoria, serving as acting director in 2015. He has a Master of Public Administration from the London School of Economics.
Queensland selects next police commissioner
Police veteran Steve Gollschewski has been named Queensland’s next police commissioner.
Gollschewski is well known to the Queensland public, having served on the force for 44 years, including his current role as the state’s most experienced senior officer.
He led the state’s COVID-19 police response, including hotel quarantine, airport security and road border security.
Gollschewski’s appointment comes at an important time for Queensland Police, which is under scrutiny for its responses to domestic and family violence. He will engage with the state Crime and Corruption Commission about the organisation’s reform agenda.
He has been acting commissioner since the resignation of Katarina Carroll in March.
