We have a network of agriculture counsellors based around the world in key trade locations. They promote Australia’s agricultural interests, and help our agricultural sector grow.
Our agriculture counsellors work with our biosecurity, exports and trade and market access teams. Together, they improve and maintain market access for Australian agricultural exports.
They:
- explore and develop new market openings for Australian farmers and exporters
- maintain existing market access
- improve technical market access
- provide market intelligence
- manage sensitive policy issues
- represent Australia at meetings and negotiations
- resolve issues when Australian agricultural goods arrive at their foreign destination.
Overseas Network Review
In 2020, an Overseas Network review was undertaken to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of the network and make recommendations on how to optimise its effectiveness with regards to future roles, locations and the levels of Counsellor Network positions.
The findings of this review can be found below.
Download
| Document | Pages | File size |
|---|---|---|
Overseas Posts Network Review PDF  |
42 | 871 KB |
Overseas Posts Network Review DOCX  |
42 | 1.8 MB |
If you have difficulty accessing these files, please visit web accessibility.
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Find out more about what our agriculture counsellors do.
Counsellor transcript DOCX [21 KB, 1 page]
Where are they?
We base them in key trade markets for Australia. This includes Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas. In some cases they have a broader regional coverage beyond the countries in which they are based.
| Country of Location | Officer Name | Officer Position | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Belgium | Jo Grainger | Minister Counsellor | Joanna.Grainger@dfat.gov.au |
| Belgium | Erin Tomkinson | Counsellor | Erin.Tomkinson@dfat.gov.au |
| Chile | Ian Mortimer | Counsellor | Ian.Mortimer@dfat.gov.au |
| China | Deb Langford | Minister Counsellor | Debbie.Langford@dfat.gov.au |
| China | Leah Cuttriss | Counsellor | Leah.Cuttriss@dfat.gov.au |
| China | Duncan Craig | Counsellor | Duncan.Craig@dfat.gov.au |
| India | John Southwell | Counsellor | John.Southwell@dfat.gov.au |
| Indonesia | Dean Merrilees | Minister Counsellor | Dean.Merrilees@dfat.gov.au |
| Indonesia | George Hughes | Counsellor | George.Hughes@dfat.gov.au |
| Italy | Lynda Hayden | Counsellor | Lynda.Hayden@dfat.gov.au |
| Japan | Thomas Krijnen | Counsellor | Thomas.Krijnen@dfat.gov.au |
| Japan | Thomas Parnell | Counsellor | Thomas.Parnell@dfat.gov.au |
| Malaysia | Sanjay Boothalingam | Counsellor | Sanjay.Boothalingam@dfat.gov.au |
| Mexico | Kate Makin | Counsellor | Kate.Makin@dfat.gov.au |
| Saudi Arabia | Samareh Naeemi Hosseini | First Secretary | Samareh.Hosseininaeemi@dfat.gov.au |
| South Korea | Emma Hatcher | Counsellor | Emma.Hatcher@dfat.gov.au |
| South Korea | Jenny Baldwin | First Secretary | Jennifer.Baldwin@dfat.gov.au |
| Thailand | Amber Parr | Counsellor | Amber.Parr@dfat.gov.au |
| UAE | David Kim | Counsellor | David.Kim@dfat.gov.au |
| UK | Kieran Macdonell | Counsellor | Kieran.Macdonell@dfat.gov.au |
| USA | Cameron Hutchison | Minister Counsellor | Cameron.Hutchison@dfat.gov.au |
| USA | Jesse Mahoney | Counsellor | Jesse.Mahoney@dfat.gov.au |
| Vietnam | Tony Harman | Counsellor | Tony.Harman@dfat.gov.au |