Professor Peter Shergold AC

NSW Coordinator General for Settlement, Multicultural NSW

In September 2015, Professor Peter Shergold AC was appointed NSW Coordinator General for Refugee Resettlement by Premier Baird and has since adopted a whole-of-community approach to work across government, non-government and the private sector to improve outcomes for refugees settling in NSW.

Peter is Chair of the NSW Education Standards Authority, Chair of Opal Healthcare and Joblife. He also serves as chair of a number of not-for-profit organisations, including Australia for UNHCR, the Centre for Social Impact, the AMP Foundation and the James Martin Institute for Public Policy.

Peter has a background of leadership in the public sector, academia and not-for-profit governance, and was, for 12 years, Chancellor of Western Sydney University, where a $2 million scholarship program for refugees and asylum seekers was established in his name.

Peter previously held multiple senior positions in the Australian Public Service (APS) for two decades. In 1987, he established the Office of Multicultural Affairs and in 1991 he headed the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC). He was successively Australian Public Service Commissioner, Secretary of the Department of Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business, and Secretary of the Department of Education, Science and Training before ending his public sector career as Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, from 2003 to 2008.

Peter was made a Member in the Order of Australia (AM) for public service on Australia Day 1996 and was presented with the Centenary Medal in 2003. In 2007, he received Australia's highest award, the Companion in the Order of Australia (AC) for service to the community. The honour acknowledged Peter as a significant leader of change and innovation in the public sector, particularly through the development and implementation of a whole-of-government approach to policy development and program delivery.