Robin Mack is the new managing director of Tourism Australia and Cath Patterson is Associate Secretary in the Department of Defence. Photos: Tourism Australia and Department of Defence.
A breakdown of the latest appointments and moves in the Australian Public Service, the wider public sector and across the public services of the states and territories.
APS Senior Executive Service
Band 1
David O’Connor has been promoted to Assistant Secretary of the Commercial Policy and Advice Branch in the Department of Finance.
Carol Holmes has been appointed as Assistant Secretary, Policy and Program Management in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Benjamin Siddans has been promoted to an unspecified Band 1 role within the Australian National Audit Office.
Luke O’Connor has been appointed as the Assistant Commissioner, Fraud Prevention and Internal Investigations in the Australian Taxation Office.
Band 2
Christie McClure has been promoted to First Assistant Secretary, Legal and Integrity within the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts.
Other federal appointments
Former High Court Justice Virginia Bell has been appointed as the Commissioner of the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, which has been established following December’s terror attack at Sydney’s Bondi Beach.
Ms Bell has worked in the legal field since serving as a volunteer and solicitor at Sydney’s Redfern Legal Centre in the 1970s. She was admitted to the NSW Bar in 1984 and served as a public defender from 1986 to 1989, and was counsel assisting the Wood Royal Commission in 1995.
She served on the NSW Supreme Court from 1999 and on the Court of Appeal from 2008, and in 2009 she became the fourth woman to serve on the High Court.
In 2012, she was made a Companion of the Order of Australia before retiring in 2021. Most recently, she was appointed by the Albanese Government to lead a probe into former prime minister Scott Morrison’s secret ministries.
Special Minister of State Don Farrell has appointed Robin Mack as the new managing director of Tourism Australia.
Mr Mack has worked for Tourism Australia for more than a decade, including as executive general manager global markets and business events, and has been acting as managing director since the departure of Phillipa Harrison in August 2025.
Cath Patterson has been appointed as the Associate Secretary in the Department of Defence, where she will be responsible for integrating the work of different parts of Defence for effective and efficient outcomes, particularly in enterprise transformation and prioritisation.
Ms Patterson has previously served as Deputy Secretary, Strategy and Law Enforcement at the Department of Home Affairs, and Acting Deputy Secretary, Social Policy and First Assistant Secretary, National Security Division at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
She also worked for the Department of Health, including as Minister Counsellor (Health) with Australia’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations.
Original Article published by Andrew McLaughlin on PS News.
