The position has the rank and status of an ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary and is currently held by Minoli Perera since 22 March 2023.

[6][7] The Trade Commission office remained until its closure in December 1965, following Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence on 11 November 1965.

Following the conclusion of the Lancaster House Agreement that would allow for the independence of Zimbabwe in December 1979, an Australian Liaison Office (headed by career diplomat Charles Mott as the Special Representative[8]) was established in Salisbury on 23 December 1979, to "assist the Ceasefire Monitoring Contingent and election observers with political support and advice, and to serve as a direct point of contact between the Australian Government and the British Authorities in Salisbury.

[10] On 13 August 1981, Hearder was appointed as the non-resident high commissioner to Botswana, taking the post over from the Australian Embassy in South Africa.

Following evidence of violence and intimidation in the 2002 Presidential election, Australian Prime Minister John Howard, alongside South African president, Thabo Mbeki, and the Nigerian president, Olusegun Obasanjo, led efforts which resulted in Zimbabwe's suspension from the Commonwealth of Nations in 2002–2003.