Permanent Delegate of Australia to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Incumbent
Megan Anderson
since 13 January 2020 (2020-01-13)
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
StyleHis Excellency
Reports toMinister for Foreign Affairs
NominatorPrime Minister of Australia
AppointerGovernor General of Australia
Inaugural holderDr William Gardner Davies
Formation4 November 1946 (1946-11-04)
WebsiteAustralian Permanent Delegation to UNESCO

The permanent delegate of Australia to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is an officer of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the head of the delegation of the Commonwealth of Australia to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris, France. The position has the rank and status of an ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary and is but one of Australia's representatives to the United Nations and its other bodies, shared with the representatives present at the United Nations Office in Geneva, the United Nations Office in Vienna, the United Nations Office at Nairobi, and the delegation to the United Nations Agencies in Rome.

The permanent delegate, since January 2020, isMegan Anderson.

Posting history

Australia has been a member of UNESCO since its establishment on 4 November 1946, with the permanent delegation based in the Australian Embassy in Paris. In 1977, Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser offered the position of Permanent Delegate to UNESCO to Sir John Kerr, who as Governor-General had been responsible for the dismissal of Gough Whitlam's government in the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis, but considerable public pressure prompted Fraser to withdraw the offer to Kerr, and offer the post to Professor Ralph Slatyer instead.[1] At various periods of the office's history the Australian Permanent Delegate has been held by the Australian Ambassador to France.[2] Since 1990 the Permanent Delegate has been typically held by the Deputy Head of Mission in Paris, who also serves since 2010 as Australia's non-resident Ambassador to the Republic of Chad.

List of permanent delegates

# Officeholder Other offices Term start date Term end date Time in office Notes
1 Dr William Gardner Davies n/a 4 November 1946 (1946-11-04) 1972 (1972) 25–26 years [2]
2 Alan Renouf A October 1972 (1972-10) December 1973 (1973-12) 1 year, 2 months
3 Harold David Anderson A January 1974 (1974-01) August 1975 (August 1975) 1 year, 7 months
4 James Oswin n/a September 1975 (1975-09) September 1976 (1976-09) 1 year
(3) Harold David Anderson A October 1976 (1976-10) August 1978 (1978-08) 1 year, 10 months
5 Prof. Ralph Slatyer n/a September 1978 (1978-09) September 1981 (1981-09) 3 years [3]
6 Prof. Owen Harries February 1982 (1982-02) August 1983 (1983-08) 1 year, 6 months [4]
7 Gough Whitlam August 1983 (1983-08) October 1986 (1986-10) 3 years, 2 months [5]
8 Charles Mott November 1986 (1986-11) January 1988 (1988-01) 1 year, 2 months [6][7]
10 Ted Pocock A January 1988 (1988-01) September 1990 (1990-09) 2 years, 8 months [2]
11 John Lander n/a September 1990 (1990-09) January 1991 (1991-01) 4 months
12 Dr Malcolm Leader February 1991 (1991-02) April 1991 (1991-04) 2 months
13 Dr Robert Merrillees May 1991 (1991-05) August 1991 (1991-08) 3 months
14 Ross Burns September 1991 (1991-09) September 1992 (1992-09) 1 year
15 Mark Pierce September 1992 (1992-09) March 1994 (1994-03) 1 year, 6 months
16 Alan Brown A March 1994 (1994-03) September 1996 (1996-09) 2 years, 6 months
17 Peter Shannon n/a October 1996 (1996-10) January 1999 (1999-01) 2 years, 3 months
18 Matthew Peek January 1999 (1999-01) January 2003 (2003-01) 4 years
19 Jane Madden January 2003 (2003-01) January 2007 (2007-01) 4 years
20 Sally Mansfield B January 2007 (2007-01) 20 April 2010 (2010-04-20) 3 years, 3 months [8]
21 Gita Kamath B 20 April 2010 (2010-04-20) 26 June 2013 (2013-06-26) 3 years, 67 days [9]
22 George Mina B 9 September 2013 (2013-09-09) 20 January 2017 (2017-01-20) 3 years, 133 days [10][11]
23 Angus Mackenzie B 20 January 2017 (2017-01-20) 13 January 2020 (2020-01-13) 2 years, 358 days [12][13]
24 Megan Anderson B 13 January 2020 (2020-01-13) Incumbent 4 years, 48 days [14][15][16]

Notes

^A Also Ambassador to France.
^B Also non-resident Ambassador to Chad, 2010–present.

See also

References

  1. ^ Blythe, Max: Interviews with Australian scientists: Professor Ralph Slatyer, Australian Academy of Science, 2003.
  2. ^ a b c "Australia and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)" (PDF). Australian Permanent Delegation to UNESCO, Paris. DFAT. December 2005. pp. 32–33. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
  3. ^ "New UNESCO ambassador judges it an important job". The Canberra Times. 29 March 1978. p. 3. Retrieved 19 May 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. ^ "Professor envoy to UNESCO". The Canberra Times. ACT. 24 September 1981. p. 3. Retrieved 19 May 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. ^ "Appointment of the Hon. E.G. Whitlam as Australian Permanent Representative to UNESCO". Australian Foreign Affairs Record. Department of Foreign Affairs. 54 (5): 192. May 1983. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
  6. ^ "New UNESCO ambassador". The Canberra Times. 1 August 1986. p. 7. Retrieved 18 May 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. ^ "Ambassador to UNESCO". Australian Foreign Affairs Record. Department of Foreign Affairs. 57 (7): 638–639. July 1986. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
  8. ^ "HE Ms Sally Mansfield Australian Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations and Conference on Disarmament in Geneva" (PDF). Australian Permanent Mission and Consulate-General Geneva. Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  9. ^ "Farewell – H.E. Ms Gita Kamath, Ambassador, Permanent Delegate of Australia to UNESCO". UNESCO.int. UNESCO. 26 June 2013. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
  10. ^ "Directory of Permanent Delegations and Permanent Observer Missions to UNESCO – Australia". UNESCO.int. UNESCO. Archived from the original on 6 November 2015. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
  11. ^ "UNESCO Delegation". Australian Embassy France. Australian Government. Archived from the original on 27 February 2014. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  12. ^ "Directory of Permanent Delegations and Permanent Observer Missions to UNESCO - Australia". UNESCO. Archived from the original on 9 August 2019. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  13. ^ "UNESCO Delegation". Australian Embassy France. Australian Government. Archived from the original on 7 March 2020. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  14. ^ "Directory of Permanent Delegations and Permanent Observer Missions to UNESCO - Australia". UNESCO. Archived from the original on 21 October 2020. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  15. ^ "UNESCO Delegation". Australian Embassy France. Australian Government. Archived from the original on 16 May 2021. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  16. ^ "Deputy Head of Mission to France". Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Archived from the original on 3 March 2021. Retrieved 5 November 2022.

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