Introducing the
DFAT 2014–15 Annual Report

Secretary of the Department of
Foreign Affairs and Trade
Peter Varghese AO

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Who we are

  • 2589 staff in Canberra
  • 325 staff in state & territory offices
  • 2344 locally engaged staff overseas
  • 844 Australian staff posted overseas

Staff #/locations

  • APS staff
  • Locally engaged staff
Americas
72
186
Europe
96
268
Middle East & Africa
112
301
South Asia
72
223
North Asia
86
228
Southeast Asia
212
695
Australia*
2914
0
New Zealand & the South Pacific
152
390
Multilateral†
42
53

* State and territory offices – including Passports Offices

† Posts in this category include Geneva UN, Geneva WTO, New York UN, Paris OECD & Vienna UN

  • 521 tonnes of diplomatic mail shipped for all agencies
  • 13315 managed items of ministerial correspondence
  • 392 ideas submitted through the ideas challenge
  • 136642 Cables

What we do

Assist travellers

  • 1835201 passports issued in 2014-2015
  • 50252 calls received by
    Consular Emergency Centre
  • 15824 cases of Australians in difficulty managed by consular staff
  • 7361 passport applications average number received each working day

Help in crises

  • responded to emergencies in 21 countries across the Pacific, Middle East, Africa and Europe
  • 13000 people provided with humanitarian relief supplies following Tropical Cyclone Pam
  • 10000 people provided with humanitarian relief supplies following the Nepal earthquakes

Promote trade and investment

  • 2261 number of Australian exporters
  • 67% Australia’s total trade covered by free trade agreements

Connect people

  • 3200+ New Colombo Plan students in 32 Indo–Pacific host locations in 2015
  • 4322 Australia Awards offered to students from 80 developing countries
  • 1906 AVID volunteers on assignment in 41 countries

Reduce poverty and promote growth

  • 2272411 women and men with increased access to water
  • 2853621 girls and boys vaccinated
  • 1813481 additional girls and boys enrolled in school
  • 17566419 poor women and men with increased access to financial services
  • $206m exports facilitated, including new exports
  • 764082 poor women and men with increased incomes

Promote Australia

  • Managed close to 5000 media enquiries from domestic and international media
  • 227 grants to Foundations, Councils and Institutes for public diplomacy activities

Interactive Guide

View our Interactive Guide
to our Diplomatic Network
as at 30 June 2015

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