Gai Brodtmann was appointed Chair of ASPI Council in June 2023, after serving a term as a member from 2020.

Ms Brodtmann is also on the boards of Defence Housing Australia and the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House and is the co-founder and chair of Fearless Women.

Ms Brodtmann is a Distinguished Advisor at the National Security College and a regular presenter, panellist and podcaster on public policy, national security and women’s empowerment at academic institutions and think tanks.

Elected as the Member for Canberra from 2010 to 2019, Ms Brodtmann served as Shadow Assistant Minister for Cyber Security and Defence from 2016 to 2019 and Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence from 2013 to 2016. She was a member of a number of committees, including the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade and the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit and co-founded the Parliamentary Friends of Defence group. 

Prior to her political career, Ms Brodtmann ran her own small Defence-focused communication business and was a non-executive director. In Defence she consulted across a broad range of areas, including on capability acquisition and sustainment, financial and personnel management, youth development, science and technology, cultural change and diversity policy.

From 1990 to 2000, Ms Brodtmann was a federal public servant primarily with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Attorney-General’s Department. During her time in Foreign Affairs and Trade, Ms Brodtmann was Counsellor – Public Affairs at the Australian High Commission in New Delhi, a departmental spokesperson and an executive officer on the Middle East desk.

Ms Brodtmann is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, a Fellow of the Australian Information Security Association and a Fellow of the Public Relations Institute of Australia.

Her national security policy interests include cyber security, the Women, Peace and Security agenda, critical infrastructure, capability sustainment, community engagement and national resilience. She is a champion and mentor of women in national security.