NOBLE TIM

BARWON Heads’ Melanie Le Page says she always knew her little brother Tim Wright was destined for great things.

Mr Wright, 32, is the Asia-Pacific director and co-founder of The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), which was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace last week.

ICAN describes itself as a coalition of non-governmental organisations in 100 countries promoting adherence to and implementation of the United Nations nuclear weapon ban treaty.

This landmark global agreement was adopted in New York on July 7 this year.

“I always knew he was capable of very big things,” Mrs Le Page said.

“Even at a young age he was different, always working at a higher level to everyone else.”

Mrs Le Page said her brother, who was dux of Bellarine Secondary College, was passionate about a variety of causes, but nuclear disarmament had become his obsession.

“He is pretty amazing and I’m so proud of him. We see him a lot when he is not off saving the world, but we’ll have to wait until he gets back from the UN so we can celebrate.”

Mrs Le Page said Mr Wright was a very humble and modest man, and didn’t carry out his work for the accolades.

Speaking to the ABC, Mr Wright said the award was a “huge honour” and “in a sense, it is the first Australian Nobel Peace Prize that’s ever been awarded”.

“Over the past decade, we’ve been working to build support globally for a prohibition on nuclear weapons and we’ve been doing it by focusing on the catastrophic humanitarian consequences that these weapons have,” he said.

“We’ve been working with survivors of atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, with survivors of nuclear testing here in Australia and in the Pacific, One of our priorities will be to bring the Australian government on board. So far, it has opposed the treaty because it considers US nuclear weapons to be essential for our security. This position is immoral and dangerous.”