Movers & Shakers: Four diplomats, seven judges, and a secretary
Commonwealth King’s Counsel appointed, WA director joins National Reconstruction Fund, ACMA deputy chair named, and more.
Senior Executive Service
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James Kelly has been promoted to deputy secretary at the Department of Treasury.
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The head of stewardship and security at the Australian Submarine Agency is Belinda McNamara.
The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies has promoted Carlyn Waters to deputy CEO.
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The Australian Taxation Office has promoted four new deputy commissioners: Paul Beohm for law and policy design, Sarah Welch and Emily Webster for the Tax Council Network, and David Mendoza for risk and strategy individuals.
Katina Kikitis is the new deputy CEO of the Australian Office of Financial Management.
An anonymous mandarin has been promoted to chief information officer at the Office of National Intelligence.
Adam Lambert is Cancer Australia’s new branch head.
The chief information and digital officer at the Office of the eSafety Commissioner is Farryn Brousek.
The Department of Employment and Workplace Relations has promoted Niran Gunawardena to assistant secretary for employment systems strategy and Rachel Addy to assistant secretary for access and participation.
Jaala Hinchcliffe named permanent DPS secretary
Acting secretary of the Department of Parliamentary Services (DPS) Jaala Hinchcliffe has been permanently appointed to the position for five years.
Hinchcliffe is a former Commonwealth integrity officer who joined the DPS as deputy secretary in early 2024. She has been acting secretary since November, when Rob Stefanic took indefinite leave.
Before this, Hinchcliffe was the integrity commissioner and agency head for the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity (ACLEI), which was subsumed into the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC). She served as an interim deputy NACC commissioner to provide continuity for ACLEI staff and stakeholders during its establishment.
Hinchcliffe has been deputy Commonwealth ombud and has held a number of senior executive roles with DPS and the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP). Prior to her senior executive roles, Hinchcliffe had an extensive career as a Commonwealth criminal law specialist with CDPP.
She was a member of the national executive of the Australian Institute for Administrative Law from 2018-2021 and a founding member of the APS Academy faculty for the craft of Integrity from 2021-2023.
Appointment of Commonwealth King’s Counsel
Andrew Buckland has been named the next Commonwealth King’s Counsel.
Buckland has been chief general counsel at the Australian Government Solicitor since December 2021, following a 24-year career as a government lawyer.
Buckland previously led AGS’s constitutional litigation practice and has acted for the Commonwealth in more than 100 constitutional cases, including many of the most significant and high-profile decisions for the Commonwealth.
These include challenges to COVID-19-related travel restrictions, same-sex marriage, taxation, and electoral reforms; the evolution of freedom of political communication; and the challenge to the Work Choices legislation.
Buckland has previously been outposted to Treasury and the Department of Health.
Wong names four diplomats
Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong has named new top diplomats posted to Dublin, Tarawa, Ulaanbaatar, and Hanoi.
Gillian Bird will be ambassador to Vietnam. Bird is a senior career officer with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). She was most recently Australia’s ambassador to France and ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations in New York. She has previously been posted to Harare, and served as Australia’s representative to ASEAN. Bird replaces Andrew Goledzinowski, who has held the position since 2022.
Chantelle Taylor will be ambassador to Ireland. Taylor is a senior career officer with the DFAT. She was most recently a special adviser in the regulatory and legal policy division. She has served overseas as the acting consul-general in Honolulu and at Australia’s High Commission in Ottawa.
Leo Zeng will be the ambassador to Mongolia. Zeng was most recently the director of DFAT’s graduate and early career development section. He has previously served as deputy head of mission in Serbia, with earlier postings in India and Republic of Korea. He replaces Katie Smith, who has held the position since 2022.
Mark Foxe will be high commissioner to Kiribati. Foxe was most recently consul-general of the Australian Consulate-General in Lae. He has also served overseas in Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. He replaces Karen Bray, who has held the position since 2023.
Western Australian director joins National Reconstruction Fund
Kellie Benda has been appointed to the board of the National Reconstruction Fund Corporation (NRFC).
The appointment comes alongside a commitment to expand the NRFC’s footprint in Western Australia with a new permanent office, following a request by the state government.
Benda is a Western Australian company director with over 30 years of experience in corporate strategy, finance, development, risk, capital markets and customer engagement.
She held senior executive positions at AGL, Origin Energy, Emeco Holdings, and Aurizon.
Benda is also a director of the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB), PSMA Australia (Geoscape Australia), Aurora Energy, Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC), the Brightwater Group, and several not‑for‑profit entities.
ACMA deputy chair appointed
Adam Suckling has been named deputy chair of the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) for five years..
An ACMA member since July 2023, Suckling is also a part-time associate member of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). He was CEO of the Copyright Agency until 2022.
Suckling has experience in senior leadership, commercial, policy, regulatory, and corporate affairs roles for companies such as Optus, Singtel, Foxtel, and News Corporation.
Fresh talent to the Airservices Australia Board
Susan Ferrier and Douglas Bain have joined the Airservices Australia board.
Ferrier has served as independent chair of Airservices’ culture reform board since August 2024. She is also on the Symphony Orchestra and Financial Executives Institute boards, and is a people & culture committee member at the University of Sydney.
Bain is a chartered accountant with more than 30 years of experience in the construction, infrastructure, property, and resources sectors.
He is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and currently serves on several boards, including Odyssey House NSW.
Inaugural Medical Research Advisory chair steps down
Ian Frazer has stepped down as chair of the Australian Medical Research Advisory Board (AMRAB).
Frazer is a clinician scientist who trained as a clinical immunologist. He has served as chair since AMRAB’s inception in 2016 and played a pivotal role in establishing the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF).
He was also the inaugural president of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences, and a member of the Australian National Science and Technology Council. Frazer chairs the Australian Medical Research Advisory Board of the Medical Research Future Fund.
He is recognised as co-inventor of the technology enabling the HPV vaccines, currently used worldwide to help prevent cervical cancer.
Frazer was Australian of the Year in 2006 and received the Prime Minister’s Prize for Science and the Balzan Prize in 2008. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of London in 2012 and was awarded a companion of the Order of Australia in 2013.
Caroline Homer has been named acting chair of AMRAB for three months.
Deputy commissioner for surrogacy laws review
The Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) has appointed Ronli Sifris assistant commissioner for its review of surrogacy laws.
The review, led by ALRC president Mordy Bromberg, was announced earlier this year, with a final report due by July 29 next year.
Sifris is an associate professor at Monash University’s Faculty of Law and deputy director of the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law.
She is the author of Reproductive Freedom, Torture and International Human Rights: Challenging the Masculinisation of Torture; and Towards Reproductive Justice. She is writing a third book on surrogacy law, policy, and practice.
South Australia’s new integrity head
Vanessa Burrows has been appointed head of South Australia’s Office for Public Integrity (OPI).
Burrows has been working as assistant director at OPI since 2022. She was appointed acting director earlier this year when Emma Townsend became the Independent Commission Against Corruption commissioner.
Prior to joining OPI, Burrows spent nearly 15 years working with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, eventually acting as a senior solicitor and prosecutor.
New members join National Library
Andrea Laing and Jane Hamilton have been named members of the National Library of Australia Council for three years.
Laing is a part-time member of the Board of Taxation with experience at the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and in the energy industry. She spent more than two decades at Shell in various roles, specialising in indirect tax, employment tax, and tax policy.
Hamilton has over 30 years of experience in the property, education and government sectors. Until recently, she was the chair of the University of Essex Council, the committee of university chairs in the United Kingdom, and NHS Property Services. She was also a non-executive director of the Government Property Agency. Prior to these roles, she was the European head of corporate real estate for HSBC.
Culture stalwarts join Brand SA board
Jennie Zeiher, Pauly Vandenbergh, and Kirsty Balnaves have joined the board of Brand SA.
Zeiher is a visual effects business leader and president of Rising Sun Pictures, which won the 2024 Australian Exporter of the Year Award.
Vandenbergh is the co-founder and director of the Tjindu Foundation, director of Indigenous-owned and operated businesses Wanna Mar tuna fishing and Munda Wines. He is also national diversity talent manager with the Australian Football League.
Balnaves is president of the South Australian Wine Industry Association and director at Balnaves of Coonawarra.
They join chair Jane Jeffreys, Rebecca Morse, Franklin Dos Santos and George Georgiadis on new two-year appointments.
Scotland’s top mandarin
Joe Griffin has been appointed permanent secretary to the Scottish Government starting next month.
The permanent secretary is responsible to the Scottish Parliament for exercising their responsibilities. This includes managing the Scottish government’s budget and the economic, efficient, and effective use of all related resources.
Griffin is currently director-general of strategy and external affairs and has served as a director-general in the Scottish government since 2021. He was previously director of early learning and childcare, where he worked in partnership with local government to expand services to 1,140 eligible two-year-olds and all three- and four-year-olds.
Griffin succeeds John-Paul Marks, who will take up the role of first permanent secretary and chief executive of His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.
Run of Federal Court appointments
Attorney General Mark Dreyfus has made seven appointments to Australia’s higher courts this week.
Graeme Hill has been appointed a judge of the Federal Court. Anna Parker and Joanne Stewart have been appointed to the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (FCFCOA) (division 1). Mark Cleary, Peter Fary, Leigh Johns and Jane Marquard have been appointed as Judges of the FCFCOA (division 2).
