About Us

What we do

The Peace Organisation of Australia is a non-profit and non-religious organisation committed to promoting peace through education, lobbying and direct action. Our current campaigns are for a global ceasefire on the International Day of Peace, a treaty to ban cluster munitions, the elimination of nuclear weapons, and the cancellation of the upcoming arms fair in Adelaide. We edit the Australian Journal of Peace Studies and award the Australian Peace Prize.

Our executive

Tim Wright Tim is a Melbourne University law student and board member of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. His interests include nuclear disarmament, international humanitarian law, cluster munitions, demilitarisation, military expenditure, ceasefires, human rights law and peace education. He worked as an advisor to Australian Democrats leader Senator Lyn Allison and is the editor of Time for Change: Australia in the 21st Century, a blueprint for the nation's future. His essays have been published in The Age, the Herald Sun and the Canberra Times. He was a delegate to the Prime Minister's 2020 Youth Summit.

• Interview in The Age
• Article in the Herald Sun

Flavia Contreras Perez Flavia is studying for her master’s degree in international communications at Macquarie University. In her hometown of Guadalajara, Mexico, she worked for Nuestra Tierra, an organisation that promotes international understanding and peace. Her interests include protest movements, the relationship between international organisations and citizens, and the economics of war and peace.

Abigael Ogada-Osir Abigael is an artist, Melbourne University law student and passionate community advocate. Her interests include cross-cultural community radio, peace-building through artistic expression and promoting peace at a grassroots level by our everyday interactions. Locally, she has worked as a volunteer coordinator in the community legal sector and refugee settlement. Internationally, she has volunteered on housing projects in Costa Rica and has also lived and voluntered in an Amazonian Shuar community in Ecuador. Abigael learnt from and worked with the local community and assited them in establishing culturally sensitive and environmentally sustainable projects that prevent losing Amazonian land to oil and timber companies.

Clinton Barnes Clinton is a part-time writer currently completing a work on the political misfortunes of the Australian Democrats. He has worked in current affairs for the largest community radio station in Australia, FBi. He has a degree in Politics from Macquarie University where he studied at the Centre for Middle East and North Africa Studies. He has also studied International Relations in the United Kingdom. During these studies, he developed a passion for peace and justice.

Dr Aron Paul Aron is an associate lecturer in politics at La Trobe University. His research interests include Australian politics and history, the Imperial Federation movement, Alfred Deakin, transnational identities, the history of Sarawak, and minor party politics in Australia.

Mykolas (Misha) Byrne Misha is a psychology and neuroscience student at the University of Queensland, and was elected current International Co-Coordinator of the Nuclear Weapons Inheritance Project (NWIP) in 2008. Following secondary school involvement with World Vision and the Red Cross, Misha became a member of the student movement of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) while studying and teaching in China, and has since travelled to nuclear weapons countries in both Europe and Asia. In 2008, he travelled to Kashmir to engage in peaceful dialogues with Kashmiri medical students on nuclear disarmament. His practical background in urban sustainability issues supports his interest in the contributions of resource demands and sustainability concerns to international and local conflict. With analytical skills drawn from debating experience at a national level, he is a strong advocate for non-confrontational dialogue and promotes the importance of youth engagement in cross-cultural conflict resolution.

Our patrons

Lyn Allison Lyn was a senator for Victoria from 1996 to 2008 and leader of the Australian Democrats from 2004 to 2008. She was co-president of the International Network of Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament. She introduced legislation for a domestic ban on cluster munitions and the establishment of a peace and non-violence commission, and has been a great champion of human rights.

Dr Helen Caldicott Helen is a world-renowned anti-nuclear campaigner and recipient of the inaugural Australian Peace Prize. She has written several books about nuclear disarmament and has founded several peace and anti-nuclear organisations. She holds 19 honorary doctoral degrees and is trained as a paediatrician.