Peter Baines OAM

Peter Baines OAM's Biography

Inspirational Leadership Speaker – ‘Together we Can’

Peter Baines OAM, is one of Australia’s leadership experts having road tested leadership the hard way. Peter spent 22 years with the NSW Police leading teams in response to acts of terrorism and natural disasters on a scale not previously seen.

Peter was part of the leadership team that responded to Bali after the bombings in 2002 and was called in 2005, to lead international teams in response to the Tsunami of December 26, 2004 in South East Asia.  Peter headed up multiple rotations into Thailand leading international teams in the identification process of those who died.  All the time his leadership theories were tested in this trying environment.

Creating sustainable leadership became a passion of his after witnessing the devastating effects of the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami.  He was deeply touched by the number of children left without parents by the disaster and was inspired to set up an organisation that could make a significant difference in the lives of these children.  In late 2005, Hands Across the Water was formed to raise funds for, and awareness of, the children of Thailand who were left alone.  Today Hands, has raised over $30 million Australian dollars.  Hands, now has operations in seven different locations within Thailand and provide a home to several hundred children every night.

The work of the charity has always taken a different approach to most in that they focus on creating meaningful shared experiences for their supporters.  A cornerstone event of the work of Hands are the long distance bike rides that you will find Peter leading throughout the year in Thailand.

His final years with the NSW Police were spent on secondment to the National Institute of Forensic Science where he worked on national and international capacity building projects around counter terrorism and leadership.  He spent time advising Interpol in France and the United Nations Office of Drug and Crime in South East Asia.  Peter was engaged by the Government of Saudi Arabia following the deadly floods in Jeddah, to review their response and provide advice concerning crisis mitigation and leadership.  In 2011 he deployed to Japan in response to the tsunami that would claim thousands of lives there.

Peter has received various awards including an Order of Australia Medal in 2014, for his International Humanitarian work, and in 2016 he was awarded The Fifth Class of the Most Admirable Order of the Direkgunabhorn awarded by the King of Thailand.

In 2010 he was a NSW finalist for the Australian of the Year awards and he was the first Australian to be awarded the international honour of a Rotary Professional Excellence Award in 2008.   He received the NSW Police Service Medal and the Australian Federal Police Operations Medal, for his work in Asia.  He was the first NSW Police Officer to be awarded the Humanitarian Overseas Service Medal and Australian National Medal. He has completed university studies in Law, Forensic Science and post graduate studies in Management.

Peter has written three books the latest released in 2023, Leadership Matters published by Wiley. Hands Across the Water was his first book and was published by Pan MacMillan in 2011 followed by and Doing Good by Doing Good, published by Wiley in 2014.

When not traveling for work you are likely to find Peter with his wife Claire on their rural property tending to the Hereford cattle they bred.  His other pursuits he tackles with a passion is flying helicopters and running ultra marathons.  In 2024, to acknowledge the 20th anniversary of the 2004 tsunami he will run 1320km’s in just 26 days in Thailand.

Peter’s keynote presentations are the wonderful occasions when a masterful story teller intersects with a power leadership message. His messages are beautifully crafted and will captivate, move and leave your audience wondering what just happened. On many occasions the MC will return to stage following more often than not a standing ovation from the audience and find themselves lost for words. It is the unexpected rawness, power of message and the ability to transport people to a time and place, giving them an insight unlike any they have had before

When you book Peter Baines, you’re not just booking a speaker. You’re inviting your audience into a story that has been lived at the highest stakes. From leading international teams through the Bali bombings and the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami, to building long-term impact beyond crisis and running 1,400km across Thailand, Peter’s insights are forged in real moments of pressure, responsibility and endurance.

His keynotes challenge leaders to think differently about how they show up when it matters most.

Contact Helene Greenham directly to book Peter – helene@platinumspeakers.com.au

Speaking Topics Include

"Together We Can"

During the keynote, Peter will explore the profound story of Hands Across the Water over the past 20 years, growing from a genuine vision into the largest contributing Australasian charity to Thailand. The charity’s work has deeply impacted thousands, enriching lives and fostering lasting change in the communities it serves.

It will highlight the milestones and lives changed along the way, emphasising that these achievements were never the work of one individual. Much like the recent Run To Remember, which may appear as a personal triumph, the reality is that such accomplishments are only possible through the collective efforts of a dedicated community. This message underpins the power of collaboration and shared purpose. Whether it's running to raise awareness or building an organisation that transforms lives, we move forward together.

Through this lens, Peter's story becomes a testament to what’s possible when people unite for a mutual endeavour. What emerged from the tragedy of the Boxing Day Tsunami is a legacy of hope, all because one person dreamed, believed, took action, and understood the need for others.

Key Learnings from this new keynote include:

• Action will always beat intention
• Some things we do are meant to be hard - you can have comfort or growth, choose.
• What we are willing to do is more important than what we are believe we are capable of.
• Whilst our “why” is so important in the most difficult of times we need to focus on the “how”.
• Winning from a spectacular fail

This new offering from Peter is not just a recap of the 1400km Run to Remember, but an analysis of the key learnings that allowed him to build Hands Across the Water, over the last 20 years, positively impacting the lives of thousands, culminating in the celebration of a journey of sacrifice and struggle

LEADERSHIP MATTERS

In times of crisis, leaders are defined both by their actions and by their ability to make decisions without deliberation - to act with confidence but without recklessness. One of the most positive things about working in disasters is that True Leaders are quickly identified. Without the constraints of an organisation chart or an imposed management structure, authentic leaders will rise.

The unforgettable messages that Peter shares with his audience via a unique storytelling ability come from working in times of real crisis. His leadership theories have been tested at the coal face. In the face of terrorism or leading international humanitarian responses, Peter knows what is required to operate at the pointy end of the ship.

EXPERIENCES MATTER - Results Driven by Experiences

How do you reverse AIDS within children suffering from HIV? How do you change the lives of young girls who have been trafficked into a life of forced child prostitution? The same way you build deep engagement with your business, your team and your family. You create experiences.

It’s the power of experiences, that make us who we are and help us shape what we want to become as individuals, families, leaders and successful teams.

I stumbled across the deep value of creating experiences for people whilst trying to raise money and create hope and opportunities for children.  What I found was that if I concentrated on giving rich experiences for those I was working with then it became easy to achieve the end result. And the end result for me was providing the simplest of opportunities for children who lived without the most basic of rights and privileges.

What I came to realise was that the more rewarding, the more engaging the experience was, the easier it was to build growth, sustainability and success in what I was trying to achieve. So what have been the rich experiences and the outcomes that have followed?

In 2009 I led a group of 16 bike riders from Bangkok to Khao Lak. A distance of 800km’s that we covered in eight days. Our combined fundraising saw us raise $178,000. A great effort but pulling into the orphanage surrounded by the children for who we were riding for, seeing their faces, seeing the tears running down the cheeks of the riders, I knew right then we were onto something special.

If growth is one of the measures of success, then based upon the growth of the bike ride, you would deem it an overwhelming success. Four years after the first ride we now run back to back rides that fill to our capacity of 50 per ride within a matter of days and in 2013, we raised over $800,000.

Growth is certainly an indicator of success, but what about return business? In 2013 on our Northern ride, 79% of the riders were back for their second or third time. Such is the strength of the experience a family of four returned after their first ride in 2012, to ride with us again in 2013, meaning they had raised over $80,000 in eighteen months. Why, because of the richness of the experience.

Coming from rich experiences is engagement.  But engaging your team, supporters or clients is only half the task and if you stop with engagement you miss the opportunity to build commitment within them. You can have an engaged group, but without commitment they will like what you do and support your efforts, but we want their efforts.

And from what I’ve experienced since I started obsessing about experiences it’s the three elements of Experiences, Engagement and Commitment that lead you to results.

The results I have driven are through the charity I formed in 2006 after leading Australian and International teams into Thailand following the South East Asian tsunami and the identification of the thousands of souls that perished in that tragic event. It was those experiences that led me to work with Interpol in Lyon France leading an International Counter Terrorism project, it was the same experiences that had me spend time working with the United Nations Office of Drug and Crime, and deploy into disaster areas such as Saudi Arabia after the floods in Jeddah and Japan following the tragic earthquake and tsunami of 2011. Those experiences, good and bad have positioned me to now bring about a very different kind of result.

In 2010, I took responsibility for a HIV orphanage in the north of Thailand. Children were dying on a monthly and at times weekly basis. Since assuming control of that home, not one child as died in the past three years. At the same orphanage we have raised the CD4 count of the children and in the process eliminated in all but two children AIDS.

Further up the Mekong River we are now building six homes that will provide a safe haven for 90 girls who will be removed from the sex industry having been trafficked into this unimaginable life. All of this and so many other achievements are possible based upon the rich experiences we provide.

And what I’ve come to realise is that if we can bring about such significant change and quite literally stop children dying surely our teams, our businesses and leaders can also benefit from the same formula. What modern family today wouldn’t be richer for a shared experience? If you and your leaders are not engineering shared experiences, you’re missing opportunities.

I don't think there is any magic bullet for leadership or driving results but if there was one thing I think you could obsess about, its shared experiences.

Key Takeouts

• Understanding why Experiences Matter;

• The value of Shared Experiences;

• How to build Engagement based upon Experiences;

• The key difference between Engagement and Commitment;

• The importance of recognising Results as part of the process; &

• How to engineer shared experiences within your leaders, team, social venture or family unit;

• Identifying the relationship between the four key elements of Experiences, Engagement, Commitment and Results;

• Examining the opportunities within your organisation, social venture, family or leadership team to build shared experiences.

Research and Tailoring

• The value of shared experiences has worked for me, but how does it work for you and your industry?

• Prior to presenting to your conference, team or group of leaders, I will examine the opportunities for experiences that are industry related; and

• I will build and present specific case studies, that demonstrate the value and opportunities for creating shared experiences relevant to you