Diplomatic Career
Smith joined the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in 1996 and worked in the Indonesia, South Asia, and Human Rights sections. Postings included the Australian High Commission in Port Moresby and international peace monitoring missions in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. He served as a civilian peace monitor in Bougainville Province between 1999 and 2003. He hosted a weekly program "Saredi Nait Pati" ("Saturday Night Party") on Radio Bougainville.
Smith speaks fluent Melanesian pidgin, and regularly conducts lectures on the Bougainville peace process.
In July 2009 he was the first civilian to be posted to Uruzgan as part of the second Mentoring and Reconstruction Task Force. He served most of his 18 month tour of the province living and working on the Multinational Base in Tarin Kowt and at a Forward Operating Base in the Chora Valley.
Read more about this topic: Iain Campbell Smith
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