Michael Costa

Background

About Michael Costa

Michael is a career diplomat, economist and humanitarian professional, committed to promoting prosperity, reducing poverty and enhancing stability in the Indo-Pacific region. For 13+ years he has represented the Australian Government with distinction, navigating complex geopolitical, economic and development issues to shape policy and deliver high-quality outcomes to advance Australia’s foreign, trade and aid policy objectives abroad.In Canberra he has worked to strengthen the bilateral relationship with India, Afghanistan and Papua New Guinea (PNG), across three departments – the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and the former Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID). He has served overseas at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta, Australian diplomatic missions in Chennai and Kabul, and undertaken short-term deployments to PNG and Thailand as part of DFAT’s crisis response team. In 2018, he was awarded Thailand’s highest civilian honour (Most Admiral Order of the Direkgunabhorn) for supporting the Thai cave rescue of the Wild Boars soccer team.Michael is fluent in Indonesian and holds a Masters of Economics from the University of New England, and degrees in Commerce (Economics) and Arts (Indonesian) from Deakin University.