Michael Thurston

Biography

Michael Thurston arrived in Melbourne in September 2008 to serve as the Principal Officer at the U.S. Consulate General.

From September 2007 to September 2008, Mr. Thurston was the Team Leader of the Diyala South Embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team in Diyala Province, Iraq. Before that he served as the Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Kigali, Rwanda from 2005 to 2007.

From 2002 to 2005 he was the Principal Officer of the U.S. Consulate General in Durban, South Africa. From 2000 to 2002 he was the Consul at the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and had regional responsibility for consular affairs in Djibouti and Eritrea.

From 1996 to 2000 he was the Consul and Officer-In-Charge of the U.S. Consulate General in Auckland, New Zealand. He has also had assignments as a staff assistant for the Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs and served as an analyst in the Office of Strategic Proliferation Affairs in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research. He has also served in U.S. embassies in Colombo, Sri Lanka and Mexico City.

Mr. Thurston is a graduate of the University of Washington in Seattle, as well as the University Of Washington School Of Law. He worked as a deputy prosecuting attorney for King County in Seattle for more than five years before joining the Foreign Service in 1988. He is married to Sabine Lang Thurston, a lawyer, and has two sons.

Consul General

The Consul General is the post’s Principal Officer and coordinates all functions of the U.S. Government in the Melbourne consular district. The Consul General maintains contact with senior Australian officials, both state and federal, within the consular district and keeps the Embassy and Washington informed of important political, economic and other developments affecting U.S. interests. The Consul General often represents the United States at public functions and addresses various groups and organizations on issues affecting Australian-American relations. Briefing visiting U.S. officials and American business representatives is also an important responsibility.

Last update: Wednesday, 22 October 2008 GMT+1000