The federal government has appointed cyber veteran Jessica Hunter as Australia’s new Ambassador for Cyber Affairs and Critical Technology, a key role that links diplomatic, national security and industry networks.
Ms Hunter comes to the role with more than two decades of national security and cyber operations experience, and was most recently a first assistant director-general at the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD).
She replaces Brendan Dowling, who shifted to another role in Home Affairs earlier this year. Hugh Watson, Cyber Affairs & Critical Technology Branch assistant secretary at Home Affairs, has been acting in the role since August.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong announced Ms Hunter as the new cyber ambassador over the weekend, saying the appointment comes as artificial intelligence reshapes the cyber threat environment.
“Cyber and critical technology affect all aspects of international relations. They underpin our national security, the protection and realisation of human rights and freedoms, global economic prosperity, sustainable development and international stability,” she said.
“For Australia, cyber and critical technology – including the rapidly evolving domain of artificial intelligence – are foreign policy priorities.”
Ms Hunter will lead Australia’s global efforts on cyber and critical technology policy, regional capacity-building, incident response and the development of international norms around emerging technologies.
She previously held senior roles at the Australian Cyber Security Centre, led technical teams within the UK’s Government Communications Headquarters and served as Deputy Australian Liaison Officer to the US National Security Agency.
The government is moving into Horizon 2 of the 2023 cybersecurity strategy, which will run until 2028 and aims to lift cyber maturity across business and critical infrastructure while embedding baseline security standards.
It builds on the six ‘cyber shields’ established under the first phase of the strategy — spanning citizens, business, critical infrastructure, sovereign capability, global partnerships, and government systems.
Ms Hunter is expected to maintain this cross-sector engagement, with a growing emphasis on critical technology governance, data integrity, and AI safety.
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