This blog post was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

Avatar photo

Paul Madden

British Ambassador to Japan

Part of UK in Australia

16th June 2011

Oil and Gas boom in the ‘Top End’: Visit to Darwin

I visited Darwin, capital of the Northern Territory this week. Although NT covers a vast land area, as seen in the Nicole Kidman film “Australia”, it represents only about 1% of Australia’s population and GDP.
Once a sleepy backwater, Darwin is poised to become a major oil and gas hub for the vast offshore reserves which lie on the continental shelf to its north and west. I was told about the Chief Minister’s recent visit to Aberdeen in Scotland, which has played a similar role in the UK’s North Sea operations since the 1970s. The delegation from NT had been very interested to learn from Aberdeen’s experience. They saw valuable opportunities for British companies with world class strengths in this sector to participate in Darwin’s future development.
I also visited our small consular office in Darwin and met Jeanette Anictomatis, our Honorary Consul. We have honorary consuls in cities where we don’t have full-time offices. They do a great job in helping British citizens who run into difficulties. Quite a few young British backpackers come through NT on their Australian travels, so Jeanette is kept busy.

About Paul Madden

Paul Madden has been the British Ambassador to Japan from January 2017. He was Additional Director for Asia Pacific at the FCO in 2015.He was British High Commissioner to Australia…

Paul Madden has been the British Ambassador to Japan from January 2017.

He was Additional Director for Asia Pacific at the FCO in 2015.He was British High Commissioner to Australia until February 2015. Prior to this he was British High Commissioner in Singapore from 2007-2011.

A career diplomat, he was previously Managing Director at UK Trade and Investment (2004-2006), responsible for co-ordinating and
implementing international trade development strategies to support
companies across a wide range of business sectors.

As Assistant Director of Information at the Foreign and Commonwealth
Office (2003-2004) he was responsible for public diplomacy policy,
including managing the FCO funding of the BBC World Service, the British
Council and the Chevening Scholarships programme. He led the team
responsible for the award-winning UK pavilion at the Aichi Expo in Japan
2005.

He was Deputy High Commissioner in Singapore from 2000-2003 and has
also served in Washington (1996-2000) and Tokyo (1988-92). Between
1992-96 he worked on EU enlargement and Environmental issues at the FCO
in London.

Before joining FCO he worked at the Department of Trade and Industry
(1980-87) on a range of industrial sectors and trade policy, including
two years as a minister’s Private Secretary.

He has an MA in Economic Geography from Cambridge University, an MBA
from Durham University, studied Japanese at London University’s School
of Oriental and African Studies, and is a Fellow of the Royal
Geographical Society. His first book, Raffles: Lessons in Business
Leadership, was published in 2003.

Married to Sarah, with three children, he was born in 1959, in Devon.

Follow Paul

Tags

darwin Politics