Suzy Wilson-Uilelea is the Director, Northern Territory Office (NTO) of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). She is a proud Wiradjuri (First Nations) woman from the Riverina region of New South Wales with kinship connections to the Yorta Yorta and Wemba Wemba peoples of Northeastern Victoria. She feels privileged to have been able to grow up on Country.

As a DFAT career officer Ms Wilson-Uilelea has served in several overseas roles, most recently in Dili as Deputy Ambassador. She was previously Australia’s Deputy High Commissioner in both Nauru and Suva and also served overseas in Apia. Ms Wilson-Uilelea was the first Indigenous Australian to serve as Head of the Torres Strait Treaty Liaison Office and now as Director of a DFAT State or Territory Office.

In her most recent Canberra-based role, Ms Wilson-Uilelea managed the Consular Section responsible for the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, including during the first 15 months of the COVID-19 pandemic.  In addition to her strong credentials in the Pacific, she has worked across bilateral, multilateral, and enabling areas of the department, has served on the Workplace Relations Committee and was a founding member of the Department’s Indigenous Task Force. 

Ms Wilson-Uilelea is an alumnus of the University of New England, Monash University and the National Security College at the Australian National University.  She speaks Tetum and French and can understand more Samoan than she can produce.