The former Australian foreign minister Julie Bishop has been appointed the United Nations secretary general António Guterres’ special envoy on Myanmar, the world body has said.

Bishop, the Australian National University’s chancellor, will take up the UN role that has been vacant since June last year, when Singaporean diplomat Noeleen Heyzer stepped down.

The UN said in a statement that Bishop had “extensive policy, legal and senior management experience”.

“I am deeply honoured to be appointed special envoy of the secretary general of the United Nations on Myanmar to help deliver on the mandate of the general assembly and the security council resolution of December 2022,” Bishop said in a statement to Guardian Australia.

The foreign minister, Penny Wong, welcomed the news on Saturday morning.

“Ms Bishop brings a wealth of experience to the role and her appointment comes at a critical time as the political, humanitarian and security situation in Myanmar continues to worsen,” she said.

“The people of Myanmar continue to demonstrate great resolve in the face of unspeakable violence and human rights abuses, and Australia remains resolute in our support for them.”

Wong said the special envoy played a vital role in sustaining international attention and supporting coordinated efforts towards a peaceful resolution in the troubled south-east Asian nation.

Australia would work closely with Bishop, Asean and the international community to build conditions for sustainable peace, she said.

Wong also reiterated the government’s call for the Myanmar regime to “cease violence against civilians, release those unjustly detained, allow safe and unimpeded access for humanitarian assistance and return Myanmar to the path of inclusive democracy”.

Myanmar has been in crisis since the army took power from Aung Suu Kyi’s elected government on 1 February 2021.

The country is locked in a civil war between the military on one side and, on the other, a loose alliance of ethnic minority rebels and an armed resistance movement spawned out of the junta’s crackdown on anti-coup protests.

Bishop was Australia’s foreign minister from 2013 to 2018 under prime ministers Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison.

She was deputy leader of the Liberal party from 2007 to 2018, before retiring from politics in April 2019.

Bishop became chancellor of ANU in January 2020.