Stephanie Foster

Stephanie Foster PSM was appointed as Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs on 28 November 2023. Stephanie joined the Department of Home Affairs in October 2022 as Associate Secretary Immigration. Stephanie led the delivery of Immigration Operations, Immigration Policy, Refugee Policy and Programs, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs, Legal and Service Design and Delivery Programs. Prior to this, Stephanie was Deputy Secretary Governance at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet in December 2017, where she was responsible for the effective operations of the Executive Branch of Government, management of Cabinet and Cabinet Committees, advancing the government’s legislative program. In 2021, Stephanie led a review into practices in parliamentary workplaces related to serious incidents and subsequently implemented recommendations, including the establishment of the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service. Stephanie also implemented Government recommendations in the Set the Standard: Report on the Independent Review into Commonwealth Parliamentary Workplaces aimed at making Commonwealth parliamentary workplaces safer and more respectful. Stephanie began her journey in the APS in 1987 as a graduate at the Defence Signals Directorate where she went on to spend 16 years working in a range of analytic and management roles. Stephanie spent four years as First Assistant Secretary of Defence’s International Policy Division, providing policy support to overseas operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Solomon Islands and East Timor, and managed the Defence Cooperation Program and the Global Network of Defence Attachés. Stephanie has a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from Monash University. Stephanie was awarded the Public Service Medal in 2008 for her policy support to Australian Defence Force deployments overseas, and the French Officier de l’Ordre National du Merite in 2010 for her work to develop defence relations between France and Australia.