Australia-China Council Board appointment

Today I announce the appointment of Ms Anne-Marie Schwirtlich AM, Director-General of the National Library of Australia, to the board of the Australia-China Council for a three-year term.

The Council was established by the Australian Government in 1978. It continues to play a leading role in promoting mutual understanding and to foster ever deeper people-to-people ties between the two countries.

The Australia-China Council stands to benefit from Ms Schwirtlich's leadership in fostering closer cultural engagement between Australia and China, including as a member of the Australia-China High-Level Dialogue in 2014 and 2015.

Ms Schwirtlich took up her appointment as Director-General of the National Library of Australia in 2011, bringing high-level expertise in information management. The National Library of Australia is currently hosting the Celestial Empire exhibition of rare Qing dynasty Chinese artefacts, made possible through close cooperation with the National Library of China and showcasing the National Library of Australia's significant collection of Chinese works.

Ms Schwirtlich holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) (Macquarie University) and a Diploma of Information Management (University of NSW). She has served as CEO and State Librarian at the State Library of Victoria, Acting Director-General of the National Archives of Australia, and has held positions at the National Archives of Australia and the Australian War Memorial. Ms Schwirtlich was made Member of the Order of Australia in 2015.

In recognition of their exemplary service to the Australia-China Council, I have also extended the terms of Deputy Chair Professor Stephanie Fahey and board member Mr David Olsson for a further year.

I thank outgoing board member Ms Suhanya Raffell for her long-standing service and contribution to the Australia-China Council since 2010.