16 July 2010

Australia Appoints a New Ambassador to Indonesia...

The Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Stephen Smith, has issued a media release noting the appointment of Mr. Greg Moriarty to the post of Australian Ambassador to Indonesia.

The formalization of the appointment requires the two governments to agree on the appointment, and then for Moriarty to present his credentials to the President of Indonesia. This should be a foregone conclusion as there does not appear to be anything in Moriarty's past that will be a hindrance to his appointment.

Moriarty is to replace Bill Farmer AO who has been ambassador in Indonesia since November 2005. Moriarty is currently First Assistant Secretary Consular, Public Diplomacy and Parliamentary Affairs at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). Moriarty is also the former Australian Ambassador to Iran and had the good fortune of being one of the few foreign envoys to brief George Bush on happenings there. He has also done time in Indonesia and speaks the language. This suggests that there is a good degree of gravitas about Moriarty and his work which makes him a good choice for the Jakarta role.

1 comment:

Rob Baiton said...

I don't know whether this is a picture of the ambassador designate. I found it on a conference program that I found here:

http://i.etbnews.com/etb/article/2010/105518-Program%20UTS%20ANTOR%20Risk%20and%20Recovery%20Conference.pdf

It seems to be the right bloke.