David Ritchie (diplomat)

David Ritchie AO
David Ritchie in 2013
Occupation	Diplomat, public servant
Years active	since 1975

David James Ritchie AO is an Australian diplomat and a senior career officer with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). He is currently the Ambassador for Australia to Germany, a post to which he was appointed in 2013.

Ritchie began his diplomatic career with a posting at the Australian embassy in Bonn (West Germany), where he served from 1975-1978, and from 1981-1983 he was posted to the Australian embassy in East Berlin (East Germany).

Between 1992 and 1997 Ritchie held various positions in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

From 1999 to 2001 Ritchie was a senior foreign affairs adviser to Australian Prime Minister John Howard, and from 2001 was promoted to Deputy Secretary at DFAT.

In 2002, Ritchie was appointed as chargé d'affaires at the Australian Embassy in Jakarta until a replacement for Ric Smith was appointed. Some saw David Irvine as a good replacement for Smith, given his knowledge of the Indonesian language, but Ritchie was appointed as the Ambassador of Australia to Indonesia by the Australian government to oversee the relationship between the two countries, which is seen as one of the most complex. He served in this position until 2005, including at the time of the 2004 Australian Embassy bombing in Jakarta, and the 2005 Bali bombings.