William John (Bill) Farmer AO

William John (Bill) Farmer AO.

Bill Farmer is a career diplomat who, before coming to Indonesia, headed the Australian Missions in Mexico City, Port Moresby and Kuala Lumpur. In Canberra, Mr Farmer had served as Deputy Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and for eight years, as Secretary of three Departments dealing with immigration, multicultural and indigenous affairs.

Mr Farmer was Australia's longest-serving Ambassador to Indonesia, from 2005 to 2010. He led the Embassy during a busy period in the bilateral relationship, including the Lombok Treaty on security cooperation; joint Indonesia/Australian regional initiatives including in sustainable fisheries management and disaster preparedness; and strong agency-to-agency cooperation in fields as diverse as development, counter-terrorism, immigration, transport safety and security, defence, customs and fisheries.