First New Zealander Appointed To Senior Role In Royal Australian Air Force

Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) Air Commodore Susie Barns (Ngāti Porou) is reinforcing New Zealand and Australia’s close bonds after being appointed the Royal Australian Air Force’s (RAAF) Deputy Air Commander Australia.

It is the first time a New Zealander has been offered the high ranking role in the RAAF and Air Commodore Barns says she is humbled by the appointment.

“I’m the first New Zealander, first female and the first logistician that’s gone into such an influential role.”

Air Commodore Barns’ appointment follows the signing of an agreement between the RNZAF and the RAAF last year ensuring more opportunities for key high level positions to be filled by each air force.

In her new role, Air Commodore Barns will oversee the Australian “raise, train and sustain” function, giving her the opportunity to directly influence bringing the air forces closer together.

“I’m really humbled to be given this opportunity - it’s a significant role for the Australian Air Force.

“Part of me was quite nervous about stepping into the role, but equally, I realised it was too good an opportunity to put both feet forward and give it a go. After being in the role for a couple of weeks now and having a really comprehensive handover, I’m feeling a lot more comfortable. But there’s still a heck of a lot to learn.”

The posting is for two years at Headquarters Air Command, based at the foot of the Blue Mountains in Glenbrook, west Sydney.

Beginning her RNZAF career 32 years ago, Air Commodore Barns said she could never have imagined this opportunity would become available.

“Even if you had asked me that question five years ago I would not have seen this opportunity on my radar. But, one of the key principles I have always applied in my career is to be open to anything. I have never gone into a job that I didn’t ultimately enjoy – I’ve always held the view that you get out of any experience the level of enthusiasm that you put into it.”

It was a positive move to bring personnel from a non-operational background into these types of high-level positions, she said.

“When you get into these senior leadership roles, it’s less about your technical and specialist capability and more about organisational leadership and influence, political acumen and being able to build valuable relationships across multi-agency fronts.”

One of Air Commodore Barns’ goals as Deputy Air Commander Australia is to highlight and create opportunities of mutual benefit to both the RNZAF and the RAAF.

“It’s about looking at different ways of contributing to the regional security effort that may involve taking the lead on certain Pacific-focussed initiatives and different perspectives around innovation.”

Air Commodore Barns joined the Air Force in 1993 and has served in a wide variety of roles, most recently as Logistics Commander (Air). She completed the Defence and Strategic Studies Course at the Australian War College last year.

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