PATRONS

Ms Sam Mostyn AC was sworn in as Australia’s 28th Governor-General on 1 July 2024. 

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A businesswoman and community leader, Ms Mostyn is known for her exceptional service to the Australian community. She has a long history in executive and governance roles across diverse sectors, including business, sport, climate change, the arts, policy and not-for-profit.

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In 2024, Ms Mostyn was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia for eminent service in the social justice, gender equity, sporting, cultural and business sectors, to reconciliation, and to environmental sustainability. She had previously been appointed an Officer of the Order in 2021.

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For her continued contribution as an advocate for gender inclusion and equality, sustainability, and climate change action, Ms Mostyn was awarded the 2020 United Nations Day Honour Award and an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the Australian National University in 2018.  

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Most recently, Ms Mostyn chaired the boards of Aware Super, Centre for Policy Development, Beyond Blue, Australians Investing in Women, Foundation for Young Australians, Women’s Economic Equality Taskforce, Australian National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS) and The Climate Council. 

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She has also served on the boards of some of Australia’s leading companies including Mirvac, Citi Australia, Transurban and Virgin Australia. 

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She dedicated more than a decade to the boards of the GO Foundation and Climateworks Australia, during this time she also served on the boards of Tonic Media and Global Business & Sustainable Development Commission.

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Ms Mostyn was a Commissioner with the Australian Football League for over a decade until 2017. 

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She has also been a strong supporter of women in sport, and was an advocate for the creation of the AFL Women’s league and co-founded the Minerva Network, Australia’s only mentorship and development program dedicated to professional female athletes.

From 2013–2017, she was President of the Australian Council for International Development. 

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Ms Mostyn became an inaugural commissioner with the National Mental Health Commission in 2012 and Deputy Chair of the Diversity Council of Australia in 2010. She served on the Australian faculty of the Cambridge University Business & Sustainability Leadership Program from 2010–2024. 

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She has contributed to independent reviews for the betterment of the community as a member of the panel of the Crawford Sports Funding Review (2009), and Review of the Treatment of Women in the Australian Defence Force (2012). She chaired the NSW Government Women’s Economic Opportunities Review (2022), and Women’s Economic Equality Taskforce report (2023).

She also held membership to the boards of Reconciliation Australia and Australia Council for the Arts.

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Before taking on non-executive roles, she held senior executive roles at Insurance Australia Group, Optus, and Cable & Wireless plc.

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Ms Mostyn is married to Mr Simeon Beckett SC and they have an adult daughter, Lotte Beckett. Ms Mostyn is an avid Sydney Swans fan, and served on the board from 2017–2024. 

Penny Wong was born in the Malaysian state of Sabah. Her family moved to Australia in 1976, when she was eight years old, and settled in Adelaide. She studied law and arts at the University of Adelaide. After university she worked for the trade union covering furniture industry employees, taking part in campaigns to improve pay and conditions for the union’s members, including poorly-paid female migrants working in upholstery workshops.

She worked as an adviser to the NSW Labor Government where she helped develop forests policy, and then as a barrister, before being elected to the Senate for the Australian Labor Party in 2001. Senator Wong has been re-elected four times - in 2007, 2013, 2016 and 2022.

With the election of the Rudd Government in 2007, she was appointed Minister for Climate Change and Water. In this position she significantly expanded the Renewable Energy Target, which has driven significant investment in wind and solar power. She also represented Australia in international climate change negotiations and developed the Rudd Government’s emissions trading scheme, a market based mechanism to reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions in the most economically efficient way.

After the federal election of 2010, Senator Wong was appointed as Minister for Finance and Deregulation. As Finance Minister she worked with Treasurer Wayne Swan to deliver three Budgets in the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis. She also implemented a policy to ensure women are considered for appointments to senior positions in government agencies and corporations.

In 2013 Senator Wong was elected Leader of the Government in the Senate and, after the change of government in 2013, became Leader of the Opposition in the Senate – the first woman to hold either of these roles.

She served as Shadow Foreign Minister for six years before the election of the Albanese Government in 2022, when she was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs.

As Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator Wong seeks to rebuild Australia’s reputation as partner of choice - drawing on all elements of our national power – to build a stable and prosperous region, where sovereignty is respected and the rules of the road are upheld.