James Scully is a retired senior Australian public servant. He is best known for his time in the Australian Government trade department.

Life and career

Scully was the son of William Scully, a federal Labor MP and government minister. He studied English and History at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

, going on to join the

Australian Public Service The Australian Public Service (APS) is the federal civil service of the Commonwealth of Australia responsible for the public administration, public policy, and public services of the departments and executive and statutory agencies of the G ...

in 1949, in the

Department of Trade and Customs The Department of Trade and Customs was an Government of Australia, Australian government department that existed between 1901 and 1956. It was one of the inaugural government departments of Australia established at Federation of Australia, fede ...

as a junior clerk. Between 1961 and 1963, Scully was Assistant Trade Commissioner in Cairo. In 1967, Scully was appointed a First Assistant Secretary in the

Department of Trade and Industry Department of Trade and Industry may refer to: Current * Department of Trade and Industry (Isle of Man) * Department of Trade and Industry (Philippines) * Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (South Africa) Former * Department of Trade ...

, heading the trade services section. In August 1975, Scully was appointed to his first

Secretary A secretary, administrative assistant, executive assistant, personal secretary, or other similar titles is an individual whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, program evalu ...

role, heading the

Department of Minerals and Energy The Department of Minerals and Energy was an Australian government department that existed between December 1972 and December 1975. History The department was one of several new departments established by the Whitlam government, a wid ...

. He went on to fill the Secretary position at the Department of National Resources (1975–1977), the

Department of Trade and Resources The Department of Trade and Resources was an Australian government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government or simply as the federal government, is the national executive government of Australia, a federal p ...

(1977–1983) and the

Department of Trade Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

(1983–1984). In 1981, he led bilateral talks on resources development with South Korea. After retiring from the public service, Scully moved into a private sector career. He headed an independent committee advising the ACT Government on the Very Fast Train project. For a time in the 1990s, Scully was a director at

Westpac Westpac Banking Corporation, also known as Westpac, is an Australian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered at Westpac Place in Sydney. Established in 1817 as the Bank of New South Wales, it acquired the Commerc ...

. He resigned following a September 1992 board meeting in which a loss of $1.5 billion was announced.

Awards

Scully was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in January 1984 for his public service.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scully, Jim Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Australian public servants Officers of the Order of Australia University of Sydney alumni 20th-century Australian businesspeople