John Courtney (diplomat)

Charles John Hodgson Courtney (born 1949) has served as Australia's ambassador to Zimbabwe since November 2007.

Courtney was born in Perth, Western Australia and holds the degree of Bachelor of Laws from the University of Western Australia and a Graduate Diploma in Public Administration from the University of Canberra. After briefly practising law he joined the Australian diplomatic service in 1975.

He has held a number of overseas postings in Asia and the Middle East, as well as positions in Canberra as director of various sections of the Department Of Foreign Affairs and Trade. He was First Secretary in Kuala Lumpur from 1982 to 1985, Counsellor in Beijing from 1991 to 1994, and Consul-General in Guangzhou from 1999 to 2002. In Canberra, he has been director of the Speechwriting Section (1995-96), the Indonesia Section (1996-97), the China General and Mongolia Section (1998-99), and the Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan Section (-2007).

In August 2007 he was appointed Australian ambassador to Zimbabwe, replacing Jonathan Sheppard, who had served since July 2004. He was initially expected to take office in early October 2007. He did not present his credentials until 22 November 2007, together with James D. McGee for the United States, Sergey Kryukov for Russia, and Luis Cabrera for Mexico.