Bronwen Chang Deputy High Commissioner, London

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Bronwyn Chang Deputy High Commissioner, LondonBronwyn Chang Deputy High Commissioner, London

Ellie van Baaren

12 Apr 2006

Bronwen Chang’s career has taken her around the world – Mexico, Ottawa, Tonga, New York, Canberra, and now London. ELLIE VAN BAAREN talks to New Zealand’s new Deputy High Commissioner.

Technically, Bronwen Chang is no longer new. She’s been in the job now for eight months after replacing Suzanne Blumhardt last year and is comfortably installed in her stately office overlooking London. However, when she started she stepped straight into the deep end and this is actually the first time we’ve been able to meet.

"I think it takes six to nine months to get on top of a job but London’s interesting because ... I’ve never worked in a job where the appointments were so predictable so far in advance," Chang says.

If you look at your own diary, you’ll know how hard it is to organise your friends, despite living just a tube ride away, just imagine what Chang’s diary is like. The penthouse of New Zealand House in Haymarket is an in-demand venue, and the New Zealand community in London is a very active one, meaning there isn’t a lot of "spare time" for Chang and High Commissioner Jonathan Hunt.

Chang has been in the public service ever since graduating from Canterbury University. It was not a conscious decision, rather quite by chance.

"I needed a job, the advertisement seemed good and I sent the application in. I didn’t hear anything else and in the meantime I got married and it was while we were on our honeymoon, camping, that I got the phone call to say I had the job."

The position was as Management Advisory Officer in the State Services Commission and involved a move to Wellington so that she could better see what was happening across the public services.

Her particular role meant she was concerned with equity for staff and when she moved into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs two years later she took those same aims with her – transparency and equity.

"The big advantage of working in Mfat (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade) is that no two careers are the same. You end up with completely different life experiences."

Chang says she got rotated every three to four years, giving her experience in many different areas. For instance, in 1982, Chang found herself as the Second Secretary at the High Commission in Nuku’alofa, Tonga.

"It was a choice between Jakarta and Tonga, and I ended up in Tonga. It was an excellent posting because the Pacific is really important to New Zealand and it appealed to my practical side."

The rotatations took her to New York as the first secretary in New Zealand’s mission to the United Nations, the ambassador to Mexico and a counsellor at the New Zealand High Commission in Canberra. There were also secondments, such as the executive assistant in the office of the deputy prime minister. Chang says Mfat staff do a lot of secondments, which she sees as important as they expose you to different ways and means of doing things.

"The New Zealand Foreign Service is smaller so we are more flexible because we are covering a wide range of issues," she explains.

"The New Zealand staff are very generalist. There are very few specialists in Mfat, whereas the UK has a bigger foreign service and therefore a greater degree of specialisation."

There is a lot of interchange of policies between New Zealand and the UK, which makes this particular posting interesting. When New Zealand staff in the Foreign Commonwealth Office first arrive they spend time in New Zealand House getting contacts and seeing how the service works and Brits who work in New Zealand do the same thing at Mfat.

While it may seem fantastic to have a career that sends you all over the world, Chang says her greatest good fortune is having a partner who is "prepared to come with me on all my postings and put his career to one side".

Her posting as the Deputy High Commission will last for four years and then she sees herself going home to New Zealand.

What she misses most about home is the sea.

"I felt it in Mexico, because it just wasn’t the same. To go home and walk around the waterfront and smell the briney air...

"The hardest part as well, is being on the other side of the world from our elderly parents. It’s very hard to form an impression of how they are over the phone. Both my sisters have died while I was away, so that’s hard."

Chang euphemistically describes her current position as a "big management job", which is what attracted her to it in the first place. And she has no regrets. She sees her biggest and most exciting challenge is the New Zealand war memorial planned for Hyde Park. The memorial is due to be finished in time for Remembrance Sunday in November.

"It’s a tangible representation of all the facets of the relationship [between New Zealand and the UK] and common heritage in the last century, and of the strength of the relationship going forward," Chang says.

In her eight months in the job, Chang has already experienced a great deal but her favourites include presenting High Commission staff to Her Majesty the Queen, the exhibitions regularly on show at New Zealand House and premieres.

"Those [premieres] are magical. An entire cinema filled with people watching, often a completely New Zealand film. I always feel very privileged."

Dealing with the New Zealand community in the UK is a unique experience due to the large number of New Zealand groups here and how active they are.

"The dedication of the people who are on the committees wanting to keep in touch with other New Zealanders. We have strong relationships with those groups, it’s such a luxury of contact.

"It says a lot about New Zealand that they don’t integrate fully. There is always a part of them that wants to stay in touch with New Zealand."

Chang counts herself lucky that she is in a job she enjoys.

"I’ve worked hard at it, but I’m really lucky to have a job where I can enjoy myself. I’ve experienced a whole lot of different things that you normally don’t get to."

It’s an area she would recommend to others and has advice for those who think working in Mfat could be for them.

"It’s a great experience. If you’re interested in going back to New Zealand, keep an eye on the [Mfat] website. There are a lot of people working here in law firms or public service and their experience will be welcome. And then apply!"

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left by MUHAMMAD JUNAID-UL-ISLAM 5 Feb 2009

I WANT TO BE ENQUARY MY VISA.