Her Excellency Ms Natasha Smith

2020 College Recipient, College of Business, Law and Governance

Natasha Smith graduated from James Cook University in 1993 with a Bachelor of Economics. Born and raised in Townsville, Ms Smith began work at the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), Australia’s former foreign aid agency, immediately after graduating and has forged an extensive career in development and the foreign service.

At the time of awarding in 2020, Ms Smith was Australia’s High Commissioner to Canada.  She has also been posted to Indonesia and to the United Nations in New York.  In Canberra, during her over 25 year career, she has held a range of senior positions managing issues as diverse as Australia’s development relationship with the Solomon Islands, Pakistan and Afghanistan, humanitarian response, workforce issues and corporate change. Ms Smith was a part of the task force which managed the high-profile integration of the former AusAID into the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and has held the position of First Assistant Secretary of the Multilateral Development and Partnership Division. In 2024 Ms Smith was appointed as Australia’s Ambassador to Germany.