Julie Bishop

The Chancellor presides over the Council and plays a key role in official functions at the University, including at graduation ceremonies.

As the 13th Chancellor of Australian National University (from 1 January 2020) the Hon Julie Bishop will be the first female to hold the role. She served as Australia's 38th Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2013 until 2018, the first female in that position as well as the first female Deputy Leader of the Federal Liberal Party, serving for 11 years from 2007 until 2018.

As Foreign Minister, she was responsible for strengthening Australia's key strategic and economic relationships with Ministerial responsibility for more than 5,000 departmental staff, 110 overseas missions as well as government agencies the Australian Secret Intelligence Service and the Australian Centre for International Agriculture Research.

In 2014 she led the international response to the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine, and was awarded the Commander of the Order of Merit of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Under her leadership, the 2017 Foreign Policy White Paper was developed, providing a comprehensive policy framework for the subsequent decade; and the New Colombo Plan was established, enabling Australian undergraduates to live, study and work in the Indo-Pacific region. Within five years more than 40,000 students had participated in the Plan.

In a political career spanning over 20 years, Julie also served as Minister for Education, Science and Training, Minister for Women's Issues and Minister for Ageing.

Prior to entering politics Julie was Managing Partner of the Perth law firm Clayton Utz.

She graduated with a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Adelaide in 1978 and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in 2017.

Julie completed the Advanced Management program at Harvard Business School in 1996. She is a fellow of the Australian Institute of International Affairs.

Julie also chairs the board of Telethon Kid's Institute, is a board member of The Prince's Trust Australia, a non-executive director of The Palladium Group, and a member of the international advisory boards of Afiniti and the Human Vaccines Project