David Irvine (diplomat)

David Taylor Irvine AO (10 January 1947 – 30 March 2022) was an Australian diplomat, who from March 2009 to September 2014 was the Director-General of Security, the head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation. Prior to his appointment to ASIO, he was Director-General of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) from 2003 to 2009.[1] In 2017 he was unexpectedly appointed Chair of the Foreign Investment Review Board despite having no professional investment or business experience.[2]

David Irvine
AO
12th Director-General of Security
In office
30 March 2009 – 14 September 2014
Prime MinisterKevin Rudd
Julia Gillard
Tony Abbott
Preceded byPaul O'Sullivan
Succeeded byDuncan Lewis
10th Director-General of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service
In office
1 March 2003 – 27 March 2009
Prime MinisterJohn Howard
Kevin Rudd
Preceded byAllan Taylor
Succeeded byNick Warner
Personal details
Born
David Taylor Irvine

(1947-01-10)10 January 1947
Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Died30 March 2022(2022-03-30) (aged 75)
Canberra, Australia
NationalityAustralian
Alma materUniversity of Western Australia
OccupationDiplomat

Irvine was born in Perth, Western Australia,[3] and studied at Hale School and the University of Western Australia, graduating with honours in Elizabethan history. He worked as a journalist in Perth, and joined the Department of External Affairs (the Australian foreign service) in 1970, and serving as a diplomat in Rome (1970-1073) later in Jakarta (1976-1980). Other diplomatic appointments included postings as a Counsellor (later Minister) in Beijing (1982-1986) and Minister in Jakarta (1988-1990).[4] In 1996 to 1999 Irvine served as Australian High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea[5] and Australian Ambassador to China (2000–2003).[1]

He wrote two books about Indonesia: a 1990 English translation of Bisma: Warrior Priest of the Mahabharata by Satyagraha Hurip,[6] and Leather Gods & Wooden Heroes: Java's Classical Wayang (1996; about Indonesian Wayang shadow puppets).[7]

Irvine died in Canberra, Australia, on 30 March 2022 after a period of illness and a stroke, aged 75.[8]

Honours

Irvine was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in June 2005.[9]

References
  1. McDonald, Hamish: Puppet-master now pulling the strings at ASIS, The Age, 20 February 2003.
  2. FIRB Chair Appointment, FIRB, Treasurer, 10 April 2017
  3. Appointment of Director-General, ASIS, Minister for Foreign Affairs, 23 December 2002.
  4. Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Statement of Service, Appointments and Biographies Tenth Edition, October 1995. p. 197.
  5. Evans, Gareth (9 December 1995). "Diplomatic Appointment: High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea" (Press release). Australian Government. Archived from the original on 18 September 2012.
  6. Bisma : warrior priest of the Mahabharata / Satyagraha Hurip ; translated from the Indonesian by David Irvine, National Library of Australia, 1990.
  7. Leather gods & wooden heroes : Java's classical wayang / David Irvine, National Library of Australia, 1996.
  8. "FIRB chairman David Irvine dies after battling illness". 31 March 2022.. Sarah Basford Canales and Harley Dennett, 'David Irvine, a spy boss and 'giant of the public service' who steered many PMs, dies at 75, The Canberra Times, 31 March 2022.
  9. Australian Honours
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