Australian Honorary Consul for Phuket officially appointed

PHUKET: The Australian embassy in Bangkok yesterday officially confirmed the appointment of Canadian national Michelle Hawryluk, a partner in the Phuket-based law firm Hawryluk Legal Advisors, as the Australian Honorary Consul for Phuket.

Ms Hawryluk has jurisdiction in the provinces of Phuket, Krabi and Phang Nga, read a statement from the embassy issued yesterday.

An experienced lawyer, Ms Hawryluk has been admitted to practice in Australia and the United States. She is currently managing partner at Hawryluk Legal Advisors, a law firm based on the bypass road (map here).

She has lived in Phuket since 2009, and speaks Thai at an intermediate level.

Although a Canadian citizen, Ms Hawryluk lived in Australia from 2003 to 2006, and obtained a Juris Doctor degree from Bond University.

“Nearly 900,000 Australians visit Thailand every year, with around 350,000 visiting Phuket on average,” read the embassy statement.

“Ms Hawryluk’s appointment will help the Australian Government to continue delivering high-quality consular services to Australians in Phuket.”

Ms Hawryluk’s appointment as ‘consul designate’ was announced in May last year (story here).

Since then, the offices of her law firm have become the staging point for the Consular Section of the Australian Embassy in Bangkok to hold outreach clinics, to provide passport renewal applications for adults and notarial services (stories here and here)

The offices are now designated as the Australian Consulate in Phuket, and can be contacted at:

77/77 Unit 6D, CCM Complex, Moo 5
Charlermprakiat Rama 9 Road
Phuket Province, 83000, Thailand
Telephone: +66 (0) 76 510 111