Julie-Ann Guivarra

Julie-Ann Guivarra (born in Cairns) is an Australian diplomat who was the first Indigenous person to serve as a senior executive in the Australian Foreign Ministry and the first Indigenous woman to represent Australia as an ambassador, serving as Ambassador to Spain from 2018 to 2020 with non-resident accreditation to Andorra and Equatorial Guinea. In May 2020, she was appointed as Australia's Ambassador for Gender Equality. She was the first in her family to go to university, She finished in the role in January 2020 and was replaced by Sophia McIntyre.

In March 2020, on International Women's Day, Foreign Affairs Minister and Minister for Women Marise Payne announced the appointed of Guivarra as Ambassador for Gender Equality, the fourth person to hold the role after it was created in 2011. The purpose of the role is to ensure that gender equality and empowerment of women and girls is a "key focus of Australia’s diplomatic, development, and regional security efforts".

Publications