Simon Murdoch

Simon Murdoch, of Wellington, receives the Insignia of a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for public services, lately as Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Trade.  He held a number of roles with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, including as political counsellor at the New Zealand Embassy in the United States of America and as head of the Australia Division.  He was the New Zealand High Commissioner to Australia from 1999 to 2002 and was the Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Trade from 2002 to 2009.  He was first seconded to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet as a foreign policy advisor in 1979, was the director of the department from 1988 to 1991, and served as its chief executive from 1992 to 1999.  Mr Murdoch has also been a visiting professor of Public Policy and Management at Victoria University.