Stephen Christopher Brady (born 11 June 1959) is a former Australian career diplomat. In 1999 he and his partner Peter Stephens became the world's first officially acknowledged same sex ambassadorial couple, when they were presented to Queen

Margrethe II of Denmark Margrethe II (; Margrethe Alexandrine Þórhildur Ingrid, born 16 April 1940) is Queen of Denmark. Having reigned as Denmark's monarch for over 50 years, she is Europe's longest-serving current head of state and the world's only incumbent femal ...

at the start of Brady's posting as Australian Ambassador to Denmark. From September 2008 to June 2014 he was the Official Secretary to the Governor-General of Australia. During this time he was also Secretary of the Council of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gov ...

and Secretary of the Bravery Decorations Council. In March 2014 his appointment as Ambassador to the French Republic, with concurrent accreditation to the Kingdom of Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania and the Principality of Monaco was announced.

Early life

Brady was born in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

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 The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies an ...

. He graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

degree with

Honours Honour (British English) or honor (American English; see spelling differences) is the idea of a bond between an individual and a society as a quality of a person that is both of social teaching and of personal ethos, that manifests itself as a ...

in international relations in 1981.

Career

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. From 1990 – 1991 he was Counsellor and Chargé d'Affaires at the Australian Embassy in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

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

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

as a Senior Adviser. In December 1998 he was appointed Ambassador to Sweden with non-resident accreditation to

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

, Latvia and Lithuania. He was Australia's Representative at three consecutive high level international conferences on combating intolerance and discrimination, held in Stockholm (2000–03). In 2000 he headed Australia's delegation to the Plurilateral War Crimes Conference in Riga, Latvia. In February 1999 he made headlines as Australia's and the world's first openly

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

ambassador when he formally presented his partner Peter Stephens to Queen

. 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. In February 2004, he was appointed Ambassador to the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. 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 Air Chief Marshal Sir Allan Grant "Angus" Houston, (born 9 June 1947) is a retired senior officer of the Royal Australian Air Force. He served as Chief of Air Force from 20 June 2001 and then as the Chief of the Defence Force from 4 July 20 ...

, "he facilitated brilliantly". Brady's diplomatic skills and remarkable and extensive network of connections were widely acknowledged. 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. He served as Australia's Permanent Representative to the

Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is an intergovernmental organisation and the implementing body for the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), which entered into force on 29 April 1997. The OPCW, with its 193 member ...

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

. 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 The International Court of Justice (ICJ; french: Cour internationale de justice, links=no; ), sometimes known as the World Court, is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN). It settles disputes between states in accordanc ...

(ICJ), the

International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC or ICCt) is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals f ...

(ICC), the

Permanent Court of Arbitration The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) is a non-UN intergovernmental organization located in The Hague, Netherlands. Unlike a judicial court in the traditional sense, the PCA provides services of arbitral tribunal to resolve disputes that aris ...

(PCA) and the International Court for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). On his return to Australia in March 2008 he was appointed Chief of Protocol in DFAT. On 5 September 2008, Stephen Brady was appointed Official Secretary to the Governor-General of Australia. He served the entire term of Dame Quentin Bryce (2008–14) and into the early part of General

Sir Peter Cosgrove General (Australia), General Sir Peter John Cosgrove, (born 28 July 1947) is a retired senior Australian Army officer who served as the 26th governor-general of Australia, in office from 2014 to 2019. A graduate of the Royal Military College, ...

's term (2014). On 31 March 2014 his appointment as Australian Ambassador to France was announced. 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. Prime Minister Abbott later described Brady as 'a fine servant of Australia.' Towards the end of his posting in Paris, the French State appointed Brady as a Commandeur of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

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. 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 The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...

and

Bangarra Dance Theatre Bangarra Dance Theatre is an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander dance company focused on contemporary dance. It was founded by African American dancer and choreographer Carole Y. Johnson, Gumbaynggirr man Rob Bryant, and South African-born C ...

. He is also an adjunct professor at Bond University.

Honours

References