London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 02, 2025

Former Hong Kong-Australia free trade negotiator named top envoy to city

Former Hong Kong-Australia free trade negotiator named top envoy to city

Career foreign affairs officer Elizabeth Ward has officially been appointed as consul general for Hong Kong and Macau following reports of visa delays.
A chief negotiator for the Australia-Hong Kong Free Trade Agreement has been appointed as the country’s next top envoy to the city amid strained ties between Beijing and Canberra exacerbated by the national security law.

Elizabeth Ward, a senior career officer with the Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, was officially appointed to lead the consulate in Hong Kong on Sunday, following reports that she had undergone delays in getting her visa approved by local authorities.

In April, the Australian Financial Review reported that Ward had been appointed as the new consul general to Hong Kong and Macau earlier this year, but the new role had not been formally announced due to the visa delays.

While the Australian government declined to comment at the time, Deputy Consul General Ryan Neelam had been acting in the top role since February, when the outgoing chief, Michaela Browning, departed.

Last Friday, the official residence of the Australian consul general to Hong Kong at Deep Water Bay was broken into. Preliminary investigations suggested three men were involved in the break-in, but no items were found to be missing.

Ward, who was Australia’s chief negotiator for the Australia-Hong Kong Free Trade Agreement, most recently served as the country’s first assistant secretary in the Trade, Investment and Business Engagement Division. She has previously served in Washington, New Delhi and Cairo.

Announcing Ward’s appointment on Sunday, Australia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne said: “Australia has extensive interests in Hong Kong, built on strong trade and investment connections and long-standing people-to-people links. Hong Kong is home to one of the largest Australian communities in Asia.”

Hong Kong, which signed the free-trade agreement and an investment agreement with Australia in January this year, was the fifth-largest source of the country’s total foreign investment in 2019.

But Australia’s relations with China and Hong Kong have worsened in the wake of Beijing’s imposition of the sweeping national security law on June 30.

In July, Australia said it would suspend its extradition treaty with Hong Kong and give 10,000 Hongkongers on student and temporary visas a pathway to permanent residency in response to the controversial new law.

The move prompted Hong Kong to suspend extradition and other criminal justice cooperation agreements with the country, alongside Britain and Canada, in tit-for-tat retaliation for similar actions they took against the city.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×