HE Dr Julie Sunday
High Commissioner for Canada in AustraliaHE Dr Julie Sunday joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in 2005 and has served in two of Canada’s central agencies—the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat and the Privy Council Office—and was Director General of Clean Technology Innovation at Natural Resources Canada. At Global Affairs Canada, she has served as Director for science, technology and innovation; Director General and adviser to the chief financial officer; Director General, security and emergency management, and Chief security officer; and Director General for pandemic response. Most recently, she served as Assistant Deputy Minister for the Consular, Security and Emergency Management Branch. including spearheading efforts to advance the Canada-led Declaration Against Arbitrary Detention in State-to-State Relations and acting as Canada’s first senior official for hostage affairs. She arrived in Canberra as Canada’s High Commission to Australia in September 2024.
John Richardson
John Richardson is Vice President of AIIA Victoria and served as Ambassador to Brazil from 2016 to 2018. Previously Mr Richardson was DFAT State Director Victoria, having served overseas as Ambassador to Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, and as Deputy Head of Mission in Australia's Embassies in Germany and Thailand. In Canberra, Mr Richardson served as Assistant Secretary of the Canada and Latin America Branch; the APEC Taskforce; the Diplomatic Security Branch; the North-East Asia Branch; and the Trade Strategy Branch. His early career focussed on Australia-Japan relations.