AACC Global Connect: Conversation with Sarah Storey, Congressional Liaison Chief at the Australian Embassy

Congressional Liaison Chief at the Australian Embassy in Washington from June 2018, Sarah’s team facilitates the Embassy’s relationships with Congress and with US states, and is responsible for reporting on the US electoral process.

She was most recently Assistant Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Parliamentary and Media Branch, managing over 3000 media queries annually and 240 social media sites through DFAT’s global network.

Her branch also managed DFAT’s appearances at the Australian Parliament’s Senate Estimates hearings. Sarah was previously Assistant Secretary of the Consular Operations Branch, responsible for oversight of 16,000 cases annually

involving Australians in difficulty overseas. Before that, she was Adviser to Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, with responsibility for the Pacific, consular issues, economic and public diplomacy and protocol.

Twenty-four years in DFAT, Sarah has had postings to Papua New Guinea, Belgium/EU and Thailand. In Canberra, she has worked on the Fiji, Indonesia and European Union desks; headed the HR section; worked as Executive Assistant for DFAT’s Secretary; and on international and domestic legal matters. She was deployed in Australia’s first civ-mil operation, the Truce Monitoring Group in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea; and worked on negotiating the peace process in Bougainville after a ten-year civil war.

Sarah has a Bachelor of Laws (Hons.)/Bachelor of Arts (Hons.) from the University of Melbourne, and a Master of Arts (Foreign Affairs and Trade) from Monash University.