Simone Wilkie

Major General Simone Louise Wilkie, (née Burt, born 1964) is a retired Australian Army officer who was the Australian Deputy National Commander in the War in Afghanistan in 2011 and 2012. She was Assistant Chief of Staff to General David Petraeus during the Iraq War troop surge of 2007, and was the first female Commanding Officer of the Royal Military College, Duntroon and Commandant at the Army Recruit Training Centre at Kapooka. In March 2013 the Minister for Defence, Stephen Smith, announced her promotion to major general to take over as Commander of the Australian Defence College in July 2013.

Early life and education Simone Louise Burt, was educated at Ballarat Grammar School. She joined the Australian Army in 1983, and attended the Women's Royal Australian Army Corps (WRAAC) Officer Cadet School in Georges Heights, New South Wales. There were 32 women in her class. Opportunities for women in the Army were more restricted then, and on graduation she was commissioned and assigned to the Royal Australian Corps of Signals. She later recalled:I didn’t actually pick signals. That’s what I was allocated. It wasn’t even one of my preferences. But in hindsight it was the best place for me to go and that’s where you know the captain who was my guidance officer said, "You know Simone, I think you should go here". And I’ve had lots of fantastic opportunities. Would I go there now? Possibly not, because I’m not a particularly technically orientated person. And now that there is other things open like Engineers I would have been interested in that… knowing that also has a technical bent to it!

Wilkie commanded 136 Signal Squadron. On promotion to brigadier in 2009 she became Director General of Training at Headquarters Forces Command at Victoria Barracks, Sydney, responsible for most of the Army's training. Major General Simone Wilkie, with General David Hurley on her right, speaking with General Martin E. Dempsey, and General Raymond T. Odierno; at National Defense University's Marshall Hall on Fort Lesley J. McNair in Washington D.C., Nov. 21, 2013 After returning from Afghanistan then Brigadier Wilkie was posted as the Chief of Staff to the Chief of Army (Lieutenant General David Morrison) at Army Headquarters in Canberra. In March 2013 the Minister for Defence, Stephen Smith, announced that she would be promoted to major general and will take over as the Commander of the Australian Defence College in Canberra, commanding the Australian Defence Force Academy, Australian Command and Staff College and the Centre for Defence and Strategic Studies. There had only been five women of two-star rank in the Australian Defence Force (ADF).

As a result of an Australian Government review into the structure of the Australian Department of Defence, Wilkie was appointed as the Head of Joint Enablers in July 2015. In this position she retained her previous role and added responsibility for ADF Joint Health, Joint Logistics and Cadet and Reserve Policy.

In late 2014 Wilkie was appointed to the Commission of the Australian Football League, the governing body of Australia's football code. She is also a patron of the ADF Women's Australian Rules Association and the ADF Hockey Association, and chairs the ADF Sports Council.

Personal life Wilkie married Andrew Wilkie, a fellow army officer in 1991. She is currently married and lists her leisure activities as home renovation, and playing field hockey and golf.

Honours and awards