Senior Executive Service
Band 1
Home Affairs has appointed Shannon Yates assistant secretary for people services and Allan Hollink assistant secretary for payroll and conditions.
Nerida Byrne is now commander of the Australian Border Operations Centre.
Elizabeth Le Bas and Tiffany McDonald have been promoted to assistant secretary at Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Band 2
Sarah Nicolson has been promoted to assistant commissioner of onshore detention at Home Affairs.
Stott Despoja to lead family violence royal commission
Natasha Stott Despoja has been unveiled as royal commissioner of the South Australian Royal Commission into Domestic and Family Violence.
Stott Despoja is a former senator for South Australia (1995-2008) and former leader of the Australian Democrats. She is the youngest woman ever to enter the Australian federal parliament and the longest-serving Democrat senator.
A longtime women’s safety advocate, Stott Despoja was the founding chair of Our Watch in 2019.
She has represented Australia at international meetings such as the UN Commission on the Status of Women; the APEC Women and the Economy Forum; the UN Security Council Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security; the Global Summit on Ending Sexual Violence in Conflict; the G(irls) 20 Summit; and the ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children.
The commission, which has been allocated $3 million and given a year to report back from its July 1 start date, was announced by the SA government in December after a spate of highly publicised domestic violence murders rocked the state.
NSW appoints auditor general
Bola Oyetunji will slip into the NSW auditor general’s chair next month, replacing Margaret Crawford following her eight-year term.
Oyetunji is no stranger to the NSW Audit Office, having been a director there for 16 years until 2018.
Since then, he has been at the Australian National Audit Office — first as senior executive director and more recently as group executive director of the Financial Statements Audit Service Group.
Oyetunji was appointed following a merit-based recruitment process. Before joining the public service, he worked at Ernst & Young and Deloitte.
His executive leadership experience includes strategy development, governance, data analytics, finance, accounting and auditing in federal, state and local governments.
Human Rights Commission welcomes new Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander commissioner
Katie Kiss will be the next Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social justice commissioner.
The social justice commissioner leads the Australian Human Rights Commission’s work relating to the human rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. This includes undertaking research and education projects to promote respect for and the enjoyment and exercise of human rights by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Kiss is a proud Kaanju and Birri/Widi woman who grew up in Rockhampton, central Queensland on the lands of the Darumbal People. She is currently the executive director of the Interim Truth and Treaty Body supporting Queensland’s Path to Treaty.
Kiss has held senior positions in the Queensland government, including chief of staff to the minister for seniors, disability services and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander partnerships, and senior advisor to the deputy premier.
She previously worked for eight years at the Australian Human Rights Commission, where she was the director of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social justice team. Kiss was the director of strategic projects at the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples and a senior manager at PwC’s Indigenous Consulting.
The incoming commissioner has also served as a board member and chamber three delegate of the National Congress, a board member of Ngroo Education Inc., and participated at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Kiss’ five-year appointment will commence on 3 April 2024, following the departure of June Oscar.
OVIC appoints commissioner
Public servant and lawyer Sean Morrison has been appointed the new commissioner at the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner (OVIC).
Morrison will provide independent advice to the government and oversee Victoria’s freedom of information, privacy and data protection laws.
Morrison led the Victorian government’s legal response to the commonwealth’s Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability and the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety.
He also led the government’s response to the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System and held the role of executive director of legal, privacy and integrity at the Department of Health, having previously been the general counsel at the Department of Government Services.
Recently he served as special investigator at the Office of the Special Investigator.
His appointment fills the vacancy left by Sven Bluemmel, who served as the Victorian information commissioner since its establishment in September 2017.
Former DET secretary starts as UC chancellor
Lisa Paul has commenced her role as The University of Canberra’s chancellor.
Paul was the secretary of the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations from 2007 to 2013 and secretary of the Department of Education and Training from 2014 to 2016.
She has joined various boards of listed and unlisted companies, including chairing Headspace, and the National Youth Mental Health Foundation, and was director of Social Ventures Australia and Schools Plus. She co-chaired the 2023 Independent Review Panel for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
Paul was awarded a Public Service Medal for her work in coordinating the commonwealth’s domestic response to the Bali bombings. In 2011, she was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to public sector leadership.
Her appointment came into effect in January 2024.
Prime minister announces 10 ‘business champions’ for Southeast Asia
Following an announcement at the ASEAN special summit, the federal government has named 10 prominent Australian business people business champions, to promote Australia’s interests in Southeast Asia.
Western Sydney University chancellor and former Business Council of Australia CEO Jennifer Westacott will spearhead efforts in Indonesia.
ANZ CEO Shayne Elliot will manage Singapore.
Macquarie Bank CEO Shemara Wikramanayake has been appointed to the Philippines.
Aurecon COO Louise Adams will foster relationships in Vietnam.
Malaysia relations will be handled by Lendlease Group CEO Tony Lombardo.
AgCoTech chair Charles ‘Chick’ Olsson has been appointed to Laos.
Business interests in Thailand will be promoted by Linfox executive chair Peter Fox.
MGA insurance brokers executive chair John George will manage Cambodia.
East Timor Trading Group chair Sakib Awan will work with Timor Leste.
Brunei will be managed by Pristine Pacific Australia executive director Nur Rahman.
