ASIS is led by the Director-General who is appointed by the Governor-General. The Director-General is responsible to the Minister for Foreign Affairs for managing ASIS and must advise the Minister on key matters relating to ASIS. By law, the Director-General is the only member of the Service who can be identified publicly.
The current Director-General, Mr David Irvine AO, was appointed by the Governor-General with effect from 1 March 2003.
Mr Irvine is a career diplomat who joined the Australian Foreign Service in 1970. His diplomatic postings included Rome, Jakarta (twice), Beijing and Port Moresby. Amongst his more recent senior overseas appointments, Mr Irvine served as Australia’s Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China, and concurrently to Mongolia and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea from 2000-2003. He previously served as Australia’s High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea from 1996-1999 and also held senior management and policy positions within the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Canberra.
Mr Irvine was born in Perth in 1947 and was educated at Hale School in Perth and the University of Western Australia. He is married with two daughters.
