Emma McDonald is Austrade’s Senior Investment Specialist in Tourism Infrastructure. She was previously Manager,
Tourism Investment, Policy and Major Project Facilitation at Austrade, and
has extensive experience in government in policy, project management,
program delivery and stakeholder management.
Emma has worked in property and strategic planning across a range of
government departments and the private sector. She is experienced at
building trusted relationships with government and private-sector clients
on investment-related issues. Emma has worked with foreign investors on
major investment deals in recent years, where her project facilitation
skills, thorough knowledge of government approvals, and agency contacts
have been highly valued by her clients.
Prior to joining Austrade, Emma’s roles included working on energy
initiatives in the Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism; the
roll-out of remote indigenous housing in the Department of Families,
Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs; and managing media and
public affairs and undertaking asset sales for the Department of Finance.
She also held positions in the Victorian Government and as a town planning
consultant. Emma is an Advisory Board Member on Griffith University’s
Institute for Tourism for her expertise on the drivers and barriers to
investment in tourism infrastructure
Emma holds a Bachelor of Planning and Design, and Graduate Diploma of
Planning and Design from the University of Melbourne. She recently
completed the 10th Global Leadership Practices Program at the China
Executive Leadership Academy, in Pudong, China.