Simon Murdoch

Simon Murdoch   (diplomat)
Born	1948
Alma mater	University of Canterbury
Acting chief executive and director of the GCSB for a while  NZ/Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Trade In office 2002 - 2009  NZ/High Commissioner to Australia In office 1999 - 2002  Chief Executive of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet In office 1991 - 1998

Simon Peter Wallace Murdoch is a New Zealand diplomat and public servant. He was New Zealand’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Trade and was previously New Zealand High Commissioner to Canberra, and Chief Executive of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.

Early life and education

Murdoch attended University of Canterbury, where he gained a first class master's degree with honours in history.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Murdoch joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1972. He had an early posting to Canberra, before joining the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet in 1980 as foreign affairs adviser to Prime Minister Rob Muldoon.

In 1983, Murdoch was assistant head of the Asian division in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Later that year, he was posted to Washington DC as political counsellor, and the New Zealand intelligence liaison officer to the United States.

In 1987, Murdoch returned to New Zealand and became head of the Australia Division in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In 1989, Murdoch was seconded to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet to be head of the Policy Advisory Group. In 1991, State Services Commissioner Don Hunn appointed Murdoch to the post of Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.

Murdoch was head of the department of Prime Minister and Cabinet under Prime Ministers Jim Bolger and Jenny Shipley. He left the post in 1998, to become Visiting Professor of Public Policy and Management at Victoria University of Wellington for a year.

In 1999, Murdoch was appointed New Zealand High Commissioner to Australia. At the time, the posting was seen to be grooming Murdoch for the role of Secretary of Foreign Affairs.

In 2002, Murdoch succeeded Neil Walter as New Zealand’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs. He retired from that position in 2009. In the 2009 Queen's Birthday Honours, Murdoch was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for public services, lately as Secretary of Foreign Affairs.

GCSB

In 2010 he conducted a review of New Zealand intelligence agencies, and for a period before and after the appointment of Lt Gen Sir Jerry Mateparae, he was acting chief executive and director of the GCSB. During his second stint in the position he presided over the illegal surveillance of Kim Dotcom, but left weeks before the raid was carried out on 20 January 2013.

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