1. Life and career

2. Books published

3. References

Richard Philip Broinowski (born 8 May 1940) is a former Australian public servant and diplomat. He worked in Mexico, Korea, Vietnam, Japan, the Philippines, Iran and Burma, including as Ambassador to Mexico, Ambassador to Vietnam, and Ambassador to South Korea.

Life and career

Born in Melbourne, Victoria in May 1940, Broinowski was the grandson of Robert Broinowski, a public servant and author about whom the younger wrote a biography: A Witness to History (published 2001).^[1]

Obtaining his Bachelor of Laws from the University of Adelaide in 1961, Broinowski was admitted to the South Australian Supreme Court Bar in Adelaide in 1963. Later in 1963, Broinowski joined the Department of External Affairs as a junior diplomat and began studying Japanese at the Australian National University.^[2] His early postings were to Tokyo, Rangoon, Tehran and Manila.^[3] In 1975, when sent to Manila, he and his wife Alison Broinowski, whom he had married in 1963, became the first husband and wife the Department had sent to serve in the same mission.^[4]

Broinowski was appointed to his first ambassadorial role in 1983, as Australian Ambassador to Vietnam. His appointment in Hanoi was for two years, during a time when the Australian Government wished to restore normal bilateral relations with Vietnam in the post-Vietnam War environment.^[5] The appointment was his first term serving separately to his wife, Alison, who was the Australian Government's cultural attache in Tokyo.^[6] At the time, Broinowski told media that he had reservations about the Department of Foreign Affairs' rule that a head of mission could not serve in the same legation as his or her spouse.^[7]

Between 1987 and 1989 Broinowski was Australian Ambassador to South Korea, including during the time of the 1988 Summer Olympics.^[3]

From 1990 he worked for three years at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, as managing director of Radio Australia,^[8] before returning to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in 1993. His final ambassadorial posting was announced in April 1994,^[9] as Australian Ambassador to Mexico, before his retirement in 1997.^[3]

In retirement, Broinowski became an Adjunct Professor in Media and Communications, working first at the University of Canberra before moving to the University of Sydney. He is President of Australian Institute of International Affairs NSW.^[10]

Books published

• {{cite book|title=A Witness to History: The life and times of Robert Broinowski|publisher=Melbourne University Press|date=2001|isbn=0522849423}}
• {{cite book|title=Fact or Fission?: The truth about Australia's nuclear ambitions|date=2003|publisher=Scribe|isbn=192076903X}}
• {{cite book|isbn=9780733324031|title=Driven: A diplomat's autobiography|date=2009|publisher=ABC/HarperCollins}}
• {{cite book|title=Fallout from Fukushima|date=2012|publisher=Scribe|isbn=9781922070166}}

References

• Billy Millar (Northern Irish footballer)
• Billy Miller and the Great Blokes
• Billy Miller (archivist)
• Billy Miller (Australian footballer)
• Billy Miller (Australian musician)
• Billy Mills (footballer)
• Billy Minardi Classic
• Billy Mitchell (Georgia politician)
• Billy modise
• Billy Modise
• Billy Moffatt
• Billy Mohl
• Billy Momo
• Billy Monger
• Billy Moore (English footballer)
• Billy Moore (footballer, born 1912)
• Billy Moore (musician)
• Billy Moore Unit
• Billy Morris (footballer, born 1920)
• Billy Muir
• Billy Murdoch (footballer)
• Billy Murdoch (Scottish footballer)
• Billy Murphy (fashion entrepreneur)
• Billy Murphy, Jr.
• Billy Murray (English actor)