Simon Murdoch

Simon Murdoch
Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Trade
In office
2002–2009
Preceded by Neil Walter
Succeeded by John Allen
High Commissioner to Australia
In office
1999–2002
Preceded by Graham Fortune
Succeeded by Kate Lackey
Chief Executive of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet
In office
1991–1998
Prime Minister Jim Bolger, Jenny Shipley
Succeeded by Mark Prebble

Simon Murdoch, CNZM (born 1948) is a New Zealand diplomat and public servant. He was New Zealand’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Trade and was previously New Zealand High Commissioner to Canberra, and Chief Executive of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.[1]

Early life and education

Murdoch attended University of Canterbury, where he gained a first class master's degree with honours in history.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Murdoch joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1972. He had an early posting to Canberra, before joining the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet in 1980 as foreign affairs adviser to Prime Minister Rob Muldoon.

In 1983, Murdoch was assistant head of the Asian division in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Later that year, he was posted to Washington DC as political counsellor, and the New Zealand intelligence liaison officer to the United States.

In 1987, Murdoch returned to New Zealand and became head of the Australia Division in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In 1989, Murdoch was seconded to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet to be head of the Policy Advisory Group. In 1991, State Services Commissioner Don Hunn appointed Murdoch to the post of Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.

Murdoch was head of the department of Prime Minister and Cabinet under Prime Ministers Jim Bolger and Jenny Shipley. He left the post in 1998, to become Visiting Professor of Public Policy and Management at Victoria University of Wellington for a year.

In 1999, Murdoch was appointed New Zealand High Commissioner to Australia. At the time, the posting was seen to be grooming Murdoch for the role of Secretary of Foreign Affairs.

In 2002, Murdoch succeeded Neil Walter as New Zealand’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs.

He was appointed to the Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2009.[2]

GCSB

In 2010 he conducted a review of New Zealand intelligence agencies, and for a period before and after the appointment of Lt Gen Sir Jerry Mateparae, he was acting chief executive and director of the GCSB. During his second stint in the position he presided over the illegal surveillance of Kim Dotcom, but left weeks before the raid was carried out on January 20, 2013.[3]

References

  1. ↑ Biography
  2. ↑ "Running great John Walker knighted". Otago Daily Times. NZPA. 1 June 2009. Retrieved 11 November 2011.
  3. ↑ 'Dotcom saga rebounds on Key Government ", 1 October 2012, ANDREA VANCE, stuff.co.nz
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