Our ambassadors
Many prominent Australians are long-time supporters of ActionAid Australia and represent us as Ambassadors.
Our ambassadors play an important role in promoting the organisation, our mission, vision and values to the wider community.
Patron in Chief
Her Excellency Ms Quentin Bryce AC Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia
Ambassadors
Ambassador for Women: The Hon Susan Ryan AO
Susan was the first woman to hold a Cabinet post in a federal Labor Government. She was Minister for Education from 1983-1987 and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on the Status of Women from 1983-1988. She pioneered extensive anti discrimination and equal opportunity legislation and policies for women, including the landmark Sex Discrimination Act 1984 and the Affirmative Action Act 1986. In 2005 she instigated and continues to chair a national community campaign, the Australian Human Rights Act Campaign Inc. She is a frequent media commentator on superannuation, politics, education and women’s employment and income.
Ambassador for Protection: The Hon John Dowd AO QC
John Dowd was appointed Protection Ambassador of ActionAid Australia in 2005 and elected Vice-President in November 2008. John has held the positions of NSW Attorney General and Leader of the House, Consul-General for the Cook Islands to Australia, NSW Supreme Court judge, and Australian government delegate to Palestine to monitor the Palestinian Legislative Council Elections.
Ambassador for Mine Action: Ian Mansfield AM
Ian Mansfield is the Operations Director of the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) based in Geneva, Switzerland. A former engineer for the Australian Army, Ian has worked as Mine Action Team Leader with United Nations Development Program in New York, and has conducted field work in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Laos.
Ambassador for Mine Action: John Rodsted
John is a freelance photographer with a career spanning 25 years and has worked in some of the world's worst war-torn regions. He packed up his successful commercial photography studio in Melbourne and headed off around the world as a freelance photographer in 1986 and has since worked in South-East Asia, Europe, the Balkans and Africa.
Ambassador for People with Disabilities: Michael Milton OAM
Michael Milton was Australia's first winter gold medalist in the 1992 Olympic Games and the first person with a disability to ski at over 200km/hr. He has won 11 Paralympic medals, six of them gold, and held the World Speed Skiing Record for a skier with one leg for four consecutive years in 2003-2006.
Ambassador for Cambodia: Lt Gen (Ret) John Sanderson AC
John Sanderson is a former Governor of Western Australia and Chief of the Australian Army. John was advisor to the Secretary General of the United Nations and Commander of the international military component of the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC), during the peace process in Cambodia in 1991. John is an inaugural fellow of the Australian Institute of International Affairs.
Ambassador for Education: Louise Robert-Smith
Louise is a member of the Dean's Advisory Board of the Faculty of Education and Social Work at the University of Sydney and headmistress at Ascham. Louise began her teaching career as an instructor of French and Indonesian, with her first appointment at Pennant Hills High School in 1970 where she was appointed to introduce Bahasa Indonesia as a subject.
