David James Ritchie AO (born 20 June 1953) is an Australian diplomat and a senior career officer with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).

[2] From 1999 to 2001, Ritchie was a senior foreign affairs adviser to Australian Prime Minister John Howard, and from 2001 was promoted to Deputy Secretary at DFAT.

Some saw David Irvine as a good replacement for Smith, given his knowledge of the Indonesian language, but Ritchie was appointed as the Ambassador of Australia to Indonesia by the Australian government to oversee the relationship between the two countries, which is seen as one of the most complex.

[12] In July 2016, Ritchie was awarded with the Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany by Minister of State in the Foreign Office, Maria Böhmer.

[13] This article incorporates material from a website of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and is used under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia  Licence.