Ms Kirsty McNeil

Assistant Secretary Canada and Latin America Branch, Americas Division, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Biography

Ms McNeil was appointed Assistant Secretary, Canada and Latin America Branch in July 2017. Prior to that, she was the Director of the South-East Asia Institutes Section in the South-East Asia Division. Ms McNeil was the Director of DFAT’s Crisis Management and Contingency Planning Section from 2013 to 2016 and the Director of the Marine Environment Section from 2012-2013. 

Ms McNeil has served overseas twice, most recently as the Acting Deputy Head of Mission in Suva, Fiji, from 2009 to 2012. From 2002 to 2005 she was the Second Secretary at the Australian Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina. 

In Canberra, Ms McNeil has undertaken a range of positions across both policy and corporate areas. She has worked on the Department’s bilateral desks on Japan and Latin America and in its Corporate Management Division. 

Ms McNeil holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Industrial Relations)/Bachelor of Arts (Political Science) from the University of Melbourne and a Graduate Diploma in Foreign Affairs and Trade from Monash University. She commenced in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade as a Graduate Trainee in 1999.