On Saturday 2 August 2025, peace activists, scholars, unionists, and community leaders from across the Pacific gathered in Brisbane for the Pacific Peace Conference, a major regional event committed to building a peaceful, nuclear-free and just Pacific.
The 2025 conference occurred at a critical time. The largest-ever Talisman Sabre military exercise, involving more than 30,000 troops from 19 countries, were staged across northern Australia—sparking growing concern across the Pacific about escalating militarisation, climate breakdown, and social and economic injustices.
Coinciding with the 80th anniversary of the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the conference reflected on past atrocities while amplifying calls to do away with systems that threaten peace in the region today.
Participants engaged with prominent Pacific and Australian peace activists to strengthen efforts for demilitarisation, justice and climate action. The program featured four major sessions, exploring the geopolitical situation in the Pacific, threats from growing military alliances, nuclear disarmament, and Pacific-led strategies for environmental and social justice.
8.45am Open with Brisbane Combined Unions Choir
9.00am Welcome to Country -Wayne Wharton
9.10am Panel 1: Threats to Global Peace
Dr Alison Broinowski – World BEYOND War
Remah Naji – Palestine Justice and Peace
Senator David Shoebridge – Greens Foreign Affairs, Peace & Nuclear Disarmament
1030am Panel 2: Pacific Peace and a Secure Future for All
Mere Tuilau Fiji – Peace and anti-nuclear activist
Ralph Regenvanu – Vanuatu Minister for Climate Change
Wayne Wharton ‘Uncle Coco’ – Indigenous Pacific peace solidarity
1130am Panel 3: Nuclear Matters! 80 Years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki Nuclear Attacks
Prof Marianne Hanson – Co-chair of ICAN Australia
Donna Weeks – Emeritus Professor, Musashino University, Tokyo, member Australian Peace and Security Forum APSF
Sheila Babuata – Former Northern Mariana Legislature in the House of Representatives
130pm Panel 4: Regional War Preparations: Talisman Sabre AUKUS and the Force Posture Agreements
Elliot Darcy – Labor Against War
Alexia Fuentes– Secretary General of BAYAN Australia- Philippines multi-sectoral campaign centre for peaceful independence
Dr Amy McQuire – Senior Lecturer at the Carumba Institute QUT and proud Darumbal and South Sea Islander woman
230pm Plenary – Building an ‘Ocean of Peace’
Workshop Facilitators – Prof Winnifred Louis & Dr Hema Preya Selvanathan – University of Qld School of Psychology, Social Change Lab.
4pm End
From July 28th to the 4th August 2023, a delegation of Pacific Peace activists participated in a one-day conference in Brisbane then went on to speak at events in Sydney, Canberra, and Darwin. The peace delegation visit coincided with the US-led Talisman Sabre exercise in Australia with over 30,000 troops participating. The so-called exercise is held in the Central Queensland Shoalwater Bay designated military training precinct.
This is not the first time that activists from around the Pacific have campaigned against Talisman Sabre. In 2007, for example, a Peace Convergence that actually travelled to the Shoalwater Bay area was convened when people from a range of Pacific States gathered to witness US and Australian troops training for war. As with the 2023 Speaking Tour, participants were able to share their own experiences of war and the presence of US bases in their countries.
The tour began when Pacific Peace Speaking Tour delegates, Monaeka Flores from Guåhan (Guam), Shinako Oyakawa from Ryukyu (Okinawa), and Arama Rata (Aotearoa), were welcomed for lunch and a sharing of experiences on Friday 29 June by staff from the Qld Nurses and Midwives Union.
