Leading This Inquiry
The Commissioners leading this Inquiry
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The Hon Peter Garrett AM FTSE
Lead Commissioner
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The Hon Peter Garrett AM FTSE
Lead Commissioner
Peter Garrett is an activist and member of Midnight Oil. He served two terms as president of the Australian Conservation Foundation, before entering parliament as a Labor MP in 2004. As Environment Minister, Garrett initiated the campaign to end "scientific whaling" in Antarctica. As Minister for School Education he legislated the new needs based school funding model (The Gonski reforms). Following the Oils two recent ARIA number 1 albums: The Makarrata Project and Resist, Garrett's The True North debuted at number 1 on the Australian Artists Album Chart in 2024. Garrett is a Member of the Order of Australia, and an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters (France). In 2026, he was appointed Board Chair of Landcare Australia.
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Karina Lester
Yankunytjatjara Woman · ICAN Australia Ambassador
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Karina Lester
Yankunytjatjara Woman · ICAN Australia Ambassador
Karina Lester is a Yankunytjatjara Woman from the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands (APY Lands), far north South Australia. She is a second-generation survivor of the British Nuclear Tests at Emu Field, 1953 and is the youngest daughter of the late Yami Lester OAM (1940-2017), who was blinded by the 'Black Mist' (Radiation Fallout) over his traditional lands at Walyatjata (Walatina-APY Lands). The Lester family have been a stalwart of nuclear resistance for decades. Karina is an ICAN Australia Ambassador and attended the negotiating conference, New York City, USA, for the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (2017). Karina attended the Second (2MSP-2023) and Third (3MPS-2024) Meetings of State Parties, New York City, USA. Karina attended the World Nuclear Victims Forum in Hiroshima, Japan (2015) and spoke about the consequences of British nuclear testing on her family and Aboriginal people more broadly. She worked alongside her grandmother, late Eileen Kampakuta Brown AM (1938-2012) in the Irati Wanti Campaign (1998-2004), against the Howard Government's proposal for a Nuclear Waste Dump in South Australia and in July 2004 the Federal Government abandoned their plans for a radioactive waste dump in South Australia. Karina participated in The Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission in March 2015-May 2016, speaking strongly on the impacts felt by Aboriginal people in South Australia and the 'We Say No' Campaign. In 2024 Karina was a witness at the House Select Committee on Nuclear Energy. Karina continues to speak up about the harms felt by her people and with her Anti-Nuclear activism in South Australia.
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Honorary Professor, Admiral Chris Barrie AC RAN (Ret'd)
Former Chief of the Australian Defence Force
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Honorary Professor, Admiral Chris Barrie AC RAN (Ret'd)
Former Chief of the Australian Defence Force
Admiral Chris Barrie has worked on strategic leadership issues and with top level leaders over the last three decades. He commanded all arms of the Australian Defence Force from July 1998 till July 2002. After leaving the Navy he has been variously consultant, teacher and mentor working at Oxford University, ANU and the National Defense University in Washington DC. At ANU he was appointed honorary professor in 2015. Today at ANU he is Patron of the Australian Crisis Simulation Summit, a student led national one-week event for aspiring national security policy makers. He teaches occasionally on campus and conducts simulations to complement course work. As an executive member of the Australian Security Leaders Climate Group he is an outspoken commentator on Climate Change and Security matters trying to raise awareness of the risks and potential costs of inaction. He represents Australia on the Global Military Advisory Council on Climate Change.
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The Hon. Dr Carmen Lawrence AO
First woman Premier and Treasurer of a State government in Australia · Professor Emerita, University of Western Australia
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The Hon. Dr Carmen Lawrence AO
First woman Premier and Treasurer of a State government in Australia · Professor Emerita, University of Western Australia
After training as a research psychologist, Dr Lawrence entered politics in 1986, serving at both State and Federal levels for 21 years. She was the first woman Premier and Treasurer of a State government in Australia. She was elected to Federal politics in 1994 as the Member for Fremantle and was appointed Minister for Health and Human Services and Minister assisting the Prime Minister on the Status of Women. She held various portfolios in Opposition and was elected National President of the Labor Party in 2004. She retired from politics in 2007 and is currently Professor Emerita in the School of Psychological Science at the University of Western Australia.
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Leanne Minshull
Co-CEO, The Australia Institute · Board Member, Graeme Wood Foundation
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Leanne Minshull
Co-CEO, The Australia Institute · Board Member, Graeme Wood Foundation
Leanne Minshull is the Co-CEO at the Australia Institute and a board member of the Graeme Wood Foundation. She was admitted to practice as a solicitor in 1999 and has worked as a senior strategist in social, environmental, and political organisations. Prior to her appointment at the Australia Institute, she worked at Greenpeace International, based in Amsterdam. Leanne has worked as chief of staff to a State Minister and was the Director of Strategy for Australian Greens Leader Senator Bob Brown. She has also run successful small businesses including a pub in Tasmania and her own strategy consultancy.
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