The Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Australia to the United Nations is an officer of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the head of the Permanent Mission of the Commonwealth of Australia to the United Nations in New York. The position has the rank and status of an Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and is the lead Australian representative to the UN, although that role is also shared with representatives present at the United Nations Office in Geneva, the United Nations Office in Vienna and the United Nations Office at Nairobi, and the delegations to UNESCO and the United Nations Agencies in Rome. Australia is a charter member of the United Nations and has sent representatives to New York since 1946.