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Paul Madden

British Ambassador to Japan

Part of UK in Australia

13th February 2014

The new Parliamentary year in Canberra

HE Paul Madden with the Foreign Minister Julie Bishop

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop attended a reception I hosted last night to welcome new Members of Parliament to Canberra, at the start of the Parliamentary year following the long Christmas/Summer break. With huge British investments here (we’re the second largest foreign investor), 1.1 million Brits living in Australia, 600,000 visiting each year and a million Australians going to the UK, the chances are that many MPs will come across some aspect of Britain in their parliamentary or constituency lives.

HE Paul Madden with the Foreign Minister Julie Bishop
HE Paul Madden with the Foreign Minister Julie Bishop

In addition to Liberal and Labor members, the leaders of the Greens Party (Christine Milne) and the PUP (Clive Palmer) also attended, along with senior foreign policy and defence officials. In the previous hung parliament it was much harder for members to get away from the Parliament building during their spells in Canberra. In theory it should be rather easier now with the big Coalition majority, although a series of running votes in the lower chamber impacted somewhat on attendance at our event. But it was a good opportunity to introduce the parliamentarians to our High Commission team, our Consuls General in Sydney and Melbourne (in whose regions most MPs have their constituencies) and partners like the head of Visit Britain, our national tourist agency.

It’s been a busy couple of days at the Residence, as the previous day my wife Sarah hosted a lunch to introduce Margie Abbott and Lyn Truss (wives of the PM and DPM) to a selection of diplomatic spouses.

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.