Members
The Asia-Pacific Leadership Network for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament (APLN) has over one hundred members from eighteen countries across Asia and the Pacific, consisting of former political, diplomatic and military leaders, senior government officials, and scholars and opinion leaders. APLN aims to inform and energize public opinion, especially high-level policymakers, to take seriously the very real threats posed by nuclear weapons, and to do everything possible to achieve a world in which they are contained, diminished and eventually eliminated.
Natasha Stott DESPOJA
Natasha Stott Despoja AO is the founding Chair of Our Watch (the Foundation to Prevent Violence Against Women and their Children). She is a former Senator for South Australia (1995-2008) and former Leader of the Australian Democrats. She is the youngest woman to enter the Australian Federal Parliament.
Natasha Stott Despoja AO FAIIA was the founding Chair of Our Watch (the Foundation to Prevent Violence Against Women and their Children). She is also a former Senator for South Australia (1995-2008) and former Leader of the Australian Democrats. She is the youngest woman to enter the Australian Federal Parliament. She served as Australia’s Global Ambassador for Women and Girls (2013-2016).
In November 2020, she was elected by the General Assembly of the United Nations as a member of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
She is a Professor in the Practice of Politics at the Australian National University and an Honorary Visiting Research Fellow at The University of Adelaide. She has Honorary Doctorates from The University of South Australia and The University of Adelaide.
In May 2018, she was named one of the Top 100 Global Influencers on Gender Policy.
She is the author of On Violence, published in March 2019.
Natasha has served on the World Bank Gender Advisory Council (2015-2017) and was a member of the 2017 UN High Level Working Group on the Health and Human Rights of Women, Children and Adolescents.
In 2011, Natasha was made a Member of the Order of Australia for her service to the Australian Parliament, education and as a role model for women. In 2019, she was made an Officer of the Order of Australia.
In 2001, she was named a Global Leader for Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum.
She is a member Broad Agenda 50:50 by 2030 Advisory Group, the George Washington Global Women’s Leadership Council and was member of the successful FIFA 2023 Women’s World Cup Steering Committee.
She is a non-executive Director of Carrie’s Beanies for Brain Cancer and The Australian Ballet. She is a former Deputy Chair of beyondblue and has been a board member of the Burnet Institute, the South Australian Museum (2009-2013), the Advertising Standards Board (2008-2013) and the Museum of Australian Democracy (2010-2013). She was on the Prime Minister’s Referendum Council (2015-2017) and is a former member of the Australian National University Council.
She is/has been, a Patron or Ambassador for several not-for-profit groups, including The Orangutan Project, VicHealth, Globa Citizen Australia, Ovarian Cancer Australia, ENUF the HIV/AIDS anti-stigma campaign, Girls Takeover Parliament, the Fay Gale Centre and Action Aid.
She has been an international election monitor in countries including Nigeria, Indonesia, Cambodia and Kenya (2017).