Penny Williams
Distinguished Advisor at the Australian National Security College
Penny Williams was Australia’s Ambassador to Indonesia from 2021 until January 2025. Prior to that she was a Deputy Secretary in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, including as Chief Operating Officer from 2018 until 2020. She has also served as Australian High Commissioner to Malaysia and was Australia’s first Ambassador for Women and Girls. She was awarded a Public Service Medal in 2015 for outstanding public service in this position. Ms Williams had earlier overseas postings to Chile and Syria. She has a unique combination of deep international relations expertise with a focus on South East Asia and a strong track record on organisational strategy and performance, service delivery, risk management, and crisis response. Ms Williams is fluent in Indonesian. She lived with an Indonesian family for a year as a high school exchange student and subsequently studied Indonesian as part of her Bachelor of Asian Studies (First Class Honours) at the Australian National University. She also holds a Masters of Applied Anthropology and Participatory Development from the Australian National University. She is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. She has undertaken executive education programs at the Harvard Kennedy School, the Geneva Centre for Security Policy and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.
Updated: May 7, 2025