# Permanent Delegate of Australia 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. At various periods of the office's history the Australian Permanent Delegate has been held by the Australian Ambassador to France. 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 |
| 1 | Dr William Gardner Davies | n/a | 4 November 1946 (1946-11-04) | 1972 (1972) | 25–26 years |
| 2 | Alan Renouf | | October 1972 (1972-10) | December 1973 (1973-12) | 1 year, 2 months |
| 3 | Harold David Anderson | | January 1974 (1974-01) | August 1975 (1975-08) | 1 year, 7 months |
| 4 | James Oswin | n/a | September 1975 (1975-09) | September 1976 (1976-09) | 1 year |
| (3) | Harold David Anderson | | 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 |
| 6 | Prof. Owen Harries | n/a | February 1982 (1982-02) | August 1983 (1983-08) | 1 year, 6 months |
| 7 | Gough Whitlam | n/a | August 1983 (1983-08) | October 1986 (1986-10) | 3 years, 2 months |
| 8 | Charles Mott | n/a | November 1986 (1986-11) | January 1988 (1988-01) | 1 year, 2 months |
| 10 | Ted Pocock | | January 1988 (1988-01) | September 1990 (1990-09) | 2 years, 8 months |
| 11 | John Lander | n/a | September 1990 (1990-09) | January 1991 (1991-01) | 4 months |
| 12 | Dr Malcolm Leader | n/a | February 1991 (1991-02) | April 1991 (1991-04) | 2 months |
| 13 | Dr Robert Merrillees | n/a | May 1991 (1991-05) | August 1991 (1991-08) | 3 months |
| 14 | Ross Burns | n/a | September 1991 (1991-09) | September 1992 (1992-09) | 1 year |
| 15 | Mark Pierce | n/a | September 1992 (1992-09) | March 1994 (1994-03) | 1 year, 6 months |
| 16 | Alan Brown | | 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 | n/a | January 1999 (1999-01) | January 2003 (2003-01) | 4 years |
| 19 | Jane Madden | n/a | January 2003 (2003-01) | January 2007 (2007-01) | 4 years |
| 20 | Sally Mansfield | | January 2007 (2007-01) | 20 April 2010 (2010-04-20) | 3 years, 3 months |
| 21 | Gita Kamath | | 20 April 2010 (2010-04-20) | 26 June 2013 (2013-06-26) | 3 years, 67 days |
| 22 | George Mina | | 9 September 2013 (2013-09-09) | 20 January 2017 (2017-01-20) | 3 years, 133 days |
| 23 | Angus Mackenzie | | 20 January 2017 (2017-01-20) | 13 January 2020 (2020-01-13) | 2 years, 358 days |
| 24 | Megan Anderson | | 13 January 2020 (2020-01-13) | Incumbent | 5 years, 48 days |