Ashley Bell is the Assistant Secretary for Cyber Policy and Programs in the Department of Home Affairs, responsible for the development of whole-of-economy cyber security policy, program and legislative measures. This includes leading the coordination and implementation of the Government’s 2023 2030 Australian Cyber Security Strategy. Ashley is responsible for overseeing the delivery of policy initiatives on secure-by-design technology, threat sharing and blocking, ransomware and supporting a more cyber secure Australia through work with industry, small business and the community.
Prior to his current role, Ashley was Assistant Secretary for Customs and Border Modernisation in the Australian Border Force (ABF), responsible for driving forward Australia’s trade reform agenda with a focus on improving efficiency for industry and enhancing the ABF’s effectiveness at the border. This included working closely with stakeholders in industry and across Government to co-design and implement a range of innovative policy and technology initiatives.
Ashley has spent his career in the Australian Public Service, working primarily in the Treasury and the Australian Taxation Office. In Treasury, Ashley worked across a range of policy areas including taxation (domestic and international), deregulation, small business, the not-for-profit sector, corporate regulation and the financial system. In 2016, Ashley was posted to New Delhi as Minister Counsellor (Economic) and the Senior Treasury Representative in the Australian High Commission. Ashley has also previously worked in the Australian National University, teaching undergraduate and post-graduate classes on corporations and insolvency law.
Ashley holds a Master of Laws from QUT and a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) and Bachelor of Commerce from Griffith University. He is also a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD).