Stephen Brady

Brady was born in London on 11 June 1959 to Geoffrey Vincent Brady and his wife Susanne. The family moved to Australia in 1960, where Brady was educated at Canberra Grammar School and the Australian National University. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree with Honours in international relations in 1981.[3]

Brady joined the Department of Foreign Affairs in 1982 as a graduate foreign service officer. Promoted in 1985 to the Office of Security and Intelligence Coordination in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, he was subsequently foreign policy adviser to two Leaders of the Opposition.[4] From 1990 – 1991 he was Counsellor and Chargé d'Affaires at the Australian Embassy in Dublin.[1]

From 1991 to 1996 he was head of the Guest of Government program in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.[1] On two later occasions he was seconded from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) to work for the Prime Minister as a Senior Adviser.[3]

In December 1998 he was appointed Ambassador to Sweden with non-resident accreditation to Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.[5] He was Australia's Representative at three consecutive high level international conferences on combating intolerance and discrimination, held in Stockholm (2000–03).[1] In 2000 he headed Australia's delegation to the Plurilateral War Crimes Conference in Riga, Latvia.[3]

In February 1999 he made headlines as Australia's and the world's first openly gay ambassador when he formally presented his partner Peter Stephens to Queen Margrethe II of Denmark.[1][6][7] Stephens's passport was initially endorsed "Bearer is a member of the domestic household of the Ambassador", until Brady, who had been in a committed relationship with Stephens since 1982, insisted that it be changed.[1]

In February 2004, he was appointed Ambassador to the Netherlands. He was instrumental in coordinating arrangements with the Dutch government for Australia's joint military operation in Afghanistan which, according to Australian Chief of the Defence Force, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, "he facilitated brilliantly".[1] Brady's diplomatic skills and remarkable and extensive network of connections were widely acknowledged.[8]

In December 2007 he led Australia's delegation to the International Criminal Court's Assembly of State Parties Conference at the UN in New York.[3]

He served as Australia's Permanent Representative to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague. In addition, he had responsibility for Australia's relationships with all international legal institutions based in The Hague. These included the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) and the International Court for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY).[9] On his return to Australia in March 2008 he was appointed Chief of Protocol in DFAT.[1]

On 5 September 2008, Stephen Brady was appointed Official Secretary to the Governor-General of Australia.[10] He served the entire term of Dame Quentin Bryce (2008–14) and into the early part of General Sir Peter Cosgrove's term (2014).

On 31 March 2014 his appointment as Australian Ambassador to France was announced.[11] In May 2015 he reportedly offered his resignation (which was not accepted) to Australia's DFAT after an incident in which he refused to follow an instruction given by the travelling party of the Australian Prime Minister, after his partner was told to stay in the car and not greet Prime Minister Abbott at an unofficial airport arrival in France.[12] Prime Minister Abbott later described Brady as 'a fine servant of Australia.'[13]

Towards the end of his posting in Paris, the French State appointed Brady as a Commandeur of the Legion of Honour for his outstanding leadership of the bilateral relationship, only the second Australian civilian to receive the level of award after Sir Ninian Stephen, a former Governor-General.[14][15]

After completing his posting Brady has served on several boards and governing councils, including those for the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, National Gallery of Australia and Bangarra Dance Theatre. He is also an adjunct professor at Bond University.[16]