PRIME Minister Tony Abbott has announced new appointments in the high flying world of Departmental Secretaries.

Mr Martin Bowles PSM will be Secretary of the Department of Health for five years from 13 October 2014 and Mr Chris Moraitis PSM will be Secretary of the Attorney-General’s Department five years from 15 September 2014.

Bowles has been the Secretary of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection since 2012 after joining the department in 2011. He was previously Deputy Secretary of the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency and also in the Department of Defence. Prior to joining the Commonwealth Mr Bowles held senior executive positions in the education and health portfolios in the New South Wales public sector.

Moraitis has been a Deputy Secretary in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade since April 2013. He joined the Department in 1989. He has served as the High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea and has worked in Australian diplomatic missions in Paris, Madrid and Geneva. He holds a Bachelor of Arts, a Bachelor of Laws and a Masters of International Law and was admitted to practice in Victoria as a barrister and solicitor.

An announcement on who will be Secretary of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection will be made at some point in the future.

[Photo by Troy, Attribution Licence]