Peter Woolcott

Peter Woolcott
Occupation Public servant and diplomat
Spouse(s) Tanya Hollows
Children Three
Parent(s) Birgit and Richard Woolcott

Peter Woolcott is an Australian public servant and diplomat. He is currently Australia's High Commissioner to New Zealand.[1]

Life and career

Woolcott was born in the early 1950s, the son of Richard Woolcott, a former Australian diplomat public servant.[2] He spent October 1953 to May 1954 in Moscow, while his father was Third Secretary at the Australian Embassy in the city.[3]

Peter Woolcott earned his Bachelor of Law[4] and Bachelor of Arts degrees from the Australian National University and a Master of Arts degree from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

After practising as a barrister in Sydney for a number of years, Woolcott joined the Department of Foreign Affairs in 1981. He served in Australian diplomatic missions in Jamaica (1981–83), Argentina (1987–88), the Philippines as Deputy Head of Mission (1994–97), Consul-General in Honolulu[5] and representative to United States Pacific Command (1998–2001), Deputy Head of Mission in Jakarta (2001–2002), Chief of Staff to the Minister for Foreign Affairs (2002–04), and Australian Ambassador to Italy (2004–07).[6] He was replaced in Rome by Amanda Vanstone, a political appointee.[4]

Woolcott also sat on the Executive Board of the World Food Programme (2004–07). Between 2007 and 2009 he was first assistant secretary of the South East Asia division in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.[6] Woolcott was appointed as the People Smuggling envoy in 2009,[6] leaving the job after just eight months to take up a position as Australia's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva in 2010.[7] In 2014 he was appointed as Australia's Ambassador for the Environment.[8]

Woolcott was a Director for the Sea Law and Ocean Policy Group (1990–91), the Human Rights Section (1992–94) and the India and Indian Ocean Section. Woolcott has also worked as the international adviser to Bond Corporation (1989–90) and as the Executive Manager International Bid Relations, Sydney Olympic Bid 2000 Bid (1991–92).

In April 2013, under the presidency of Woolcott, the ATT (Arms Trade Treaty) was adopted by the UN general assembly in New York by an overwhelming majority. This internationally commemorated success will assist in establishing internationally agreed common standards for the national regulation of the conventional arms trade and reducing the flow of unregulated arms.[9]

In 2015, Peter Woolcott spearheaded Australia’s negotiating teams at climate talks in the United Nations. He emphasized the pertinent issues of climate change: “Left unchecked, it will magnify existing problems and increase pressure on resources including land, water, energy, food and fish stocks. It has the potential to erode development gains, undermine economic growth and compound human security challenges.”[10]

Woolcott is married to Tanya Hollows (the daughter of Fred Hollows) and has three children, Charles, Nicholas and Isabella.

References

  1. ↑ High Commissioner to New Zealand, Media release, 28 January 2016
  2. ↑ "Diplomatic dynasty sent into the breach". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. 10 Nov 2009. Archived from the original on 5 November 2012.
  3. ↑ Interview: Richard Woolcott AC Third Secretary,1952–54; Second, then First Secretary 1959–61; Australian Embassy Moscow, Australian Government, archived from the original on 11 February 2014
  4. 1 2 Bita, Natasha (27 April 2007). "Envoy in dark on Vanstone posting". The Australian.
  5. ↑ "Appendix 7". DFAT Annual Report 97-98.
  6. 1 2 3 "Peter Woolcott named people smuggling envoy". The Australian. 8 June 2009.
  7. ↑ "Australia's People Smuggling ambassador ships out". Australian Broadcasting Commission. 12 February 2010. Archived from the original on 3 March 2011.
  8. ↑ "Australian Ambassadors and other representatives". Australian Government, Department of foreign Affairs and Trade.
  9. ↑ http://australia-unsc.gov.au/australia-and-the-un/current-issues/arms-trade-treaty/
  10. ↑ Australia's lead public servant for global climate talks reveals hopes and fears for Paris, The Guardian, 19 November 2015

External links

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
Murray Cobban		 Australian Ambassador to Italy
2004–2007 		Succeeded by
Amanda Vanstone
Preceded by
Michael Potts		 Australian Ambassador for People Smuggling Issues
2009–2010 		Succeeded by
James Larsen
Preceded by
Caroline Millar		 Permanent Representative of Australia to the United Nations Office in Geneva
2010–2014 		Succeeded by
John Quinn
Preceded by
Justin Lee
as Ambassador for Climate Change		 Australian Ambassador for the Environment
2014–2016 		Succeeded by
Patrick Suckling
Preceded by
Michael Potts		 Australian High Commissioner to New Zealand
2016 – present 		Incumbent
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