David Irvine AO

Mr David Irvine

A long-serving diplomat, Mr David Irvine was Australian High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea from 1996-1999 and Australian Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China between 2000-2003, also concurrently Australian Ambassador to Mongolia and to the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea. He subsequently became the only person to have served as the head both of Australia’s foreign intelligence collection agency and its domestic security agency – positions he held for almost twelve years.

He is currently the Chairman of the Foreign Investment Review Board. He is an Adjunct Professor at Charles Sturt University and also assists at the National Security College within the Australian National University. He chairs the Cyber Security Research Centre, a not-for-profit company promoting industry investment into Australia’s cyber research capabilities in conjunction with the Government’s Cooperative Research Centre programme.

Irvine has published two books on Indonesian culture. He has honorary doctorates from the University of Western Australia (Letters) and Edith Cowan University (Science). He is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of International Affairs and was a member of the Advisory Council of the National Archives of Australia for nine years.

Irvine was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 2005 for services to the promotion of Australia’s international relations.

Australian Government logo
‘The National Security College is a joint initiative of the Commonwealth Government and The Australian National University’

Updated:  28 March 2024/Responsible Officer:  Head of College, National Security College/Page Contact:  Web administrator