Australian Peace and Security Forum

Em Prof Ian Lowe AO

Co-President

Em Prof Ian Lowe, is a former Director of the Commission for the Future, former head of School of Science at Griffith University, President of the Australian Conservation Foundation from 2004 to 2014 and chaired the advisory council that produced the first independent national report on the state of the environment. He is an author of many books and wrote a column for New Scientist for 13 years. He is Emeritus Professor, Science, Technology and Society, at Griffith University, QLD.

Matilda is the National Coordinator of the Australia Stop Killer Robots campaign based at SafeGround, an Australian non-for-profit that seeks to reduce impacts of legacy and emerging weapons. She is currently completing her PhD on the application of the responsibility to protect at RMIT, where she is also a sessional lecturer in international relations. Matilda focuses on disarmament and global governance responses to international and human security issues.

Prof Anne Poelina

Deputy President

Professor Anne Poelina citizen Nyikina Warrwa (Indigenous) Nation, PhD, PhD, MEd, MPH&TM, MA. Chair & Senior Research Fellow Indigenous Knowledges Nulungu Institute Research University of Notre Dame, Professor, College of Indigenous Education Futures, Arts &  Society, Charles Darwin University, Darwin. Anne was recently the Associate Commissioner for the National Water Initiative Productivity Commission (2024) and is the Murray Darling Basin (MDB) inaugural First Nations appointment to its independent Advisory Committee on Social, Economic and Environmental Sciences (2022).  Inaugural Chair of the Martuwarra Fitzroy River Council (2018), see, www.martuwarra.org . Member of the Commonwealth Department Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, Indigenous Advisory Committee (2024), see, www.annepoelina.com

Prof John Langmore AM

Deputy President

John Langmore is currently the Chair of the Initiative for Peacebuilding at the University of Melbourne. He has worked in PNG, been an economic advisor to the Australian Treasurer; a Labor Member of the House of Representatives for 12 years; and a Divisional Director in the United Nations system in New York for seven years. He is an author of many books and articles.

Russell Rollason AM

Treasurer

Russell Rollason is an Adviser to the University of Melbourne Initiative for Peacebuilding. He has been a diplomat with the Department of Foreign Affairs, has twenty-five years’ experience in NGOs including 12 years as Executive Director for the now Australian Council for International Development, and worked as an international development consultant in Asia and the Pacific. He is a science honours graduate from the University of Queensland.

Kathryn Kelly

Secretary

Kathryn Kelly is a former Registered Nurse and former federal public servant. She has a degree in Environmental Science and a Masters degree in Environmental Management, and is producer and director of the documentary film, The Inertia Trap: Climate Change and the Oceans. She was a convenor of the Alliance Against Political Prosecutions and is a founding member of APSF.

Prof Penny D Sackett

Penny D Sackett is a Distinguished Honorary Professor, ANU Institute for Climate, Energy & Disaster Solutions. She was the former Chief Scientist of Australia, 2008-11, providing independent advice to the Australian government on matters of science and innovation, and was a vocal champion of evidenced-based decision making. Penny was Director of the ANU Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics for five years. In her role as Director, she was responsible for the management of Mount Stromlo Observatory in ACT (during the rebuilding period after the 2003 fires), and Siding Spring Observatory in Coonabarabran, NSW. She is often called as an expert witness in climate change court cases.

Major General Michael Smith (ret’d) AO

Major General Smith served for 34 years in the Australian Defence Force, including numerous command and senior staff positions. He served in Papua New Guinea, Cambodia and Timor-Leste.  His civilian career was as CEO of Austcare (now Action Aid Australia), founding Executive Director of the Australian Civil-Military Centre, and service with the United Nations in Libya, Myanmar, Nepal, and Yemen. Mike is the Development Advisor for the Calleo Indigenous Community Fund, Chair of the Gallipoli Scholarship Fund, a Non-executive Director of the Institute for Economics and Peace and the Australian Respiratory Council, and a founding member of the Australian Peace and Security Forum. He is a past National President of the United Nations Association of Australia. Mike holds a BA (Mil) from UNSW and a Master of International Relations from ANU.

Dr Michael Walker

Michael Walker works in the Justice and Peace Office of the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney and teaches the Core Curriculum unit at Australian Catholic University. He is a member of the National Committee of the Independent and Peaceful Australia Network (IPAN) and Co-chair of the Sydney Alliance Council.