Former Australian diplomat and public servant Philip Flood AO (b. 1935) gained a Bachelor of Economics (Hons) degree at the University of Sydney before joining the Australian Government's Department of External Affairs in 1958. His overseas postings included the Australian mission to the European Economic Community in Brussels and the Australian Embassies in Paris and Washington DC; he is the former Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and to Bangladesh, and was Ambassador to Indonesia. Flood is the only person to have headed the Australian Agency for International Development AusAID (1993–1995), the Office of National Assessments (1995–1996) and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (1996–1998). Following his retirement in 2000, he has been involved with CARE Australia, the Australia Indonesia Institute, Asialink, the Foreign Affairs Council, and the Order of Australia Association. Flood also headed inquiries into immigration detention centres, Australian intelligence agencies and plasma fractionation. In his 2011 autobiography Dancing with Warriors: A Diplomatic Memoir, he reviewed a 50-year career working in Australian foreign and trade policy.
Sean Hutton's portrait of Hutton features an ikat textile from Alor in the East Nusa Tenggara province of Indonesia; a symbolic element that references the subject's extensive diplomatic career spent overseas in service to Australia.
Gift of Philip and Carole Flood 2021
© Sean Hutton
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