BARWON Heads\u2019 Melanie Le Page says she always knew her little brother Tim Wright was destined for great things.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
This landmark global agreement was adopted in New York on July 7 this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always knew he was capable of very big things,\u201d Mrs Le Page said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven at a young age he was different, always working at a higher level to everyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is pretty amazing and I\u2019m so proud of him. We see him a lot when he is not off saving the world, but we\u2019ll have to wait until he gets back from the UN so we can celebrate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mrs Le Page said Mr Wright was a very humble and modest man, and didn\u2019t carry out his work for the accolades.<\/p>\n
Speaking to the ABC, Mr Wright said the award was a \u201chuge honour\u201d and \u201cin a sense, it is the first Australian Nobel Peace Prize that\u2019s ever been awarded\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the past decade, we\u2019ve been working to build support globally for a prohibition on nuclear weapons and we\u2019ve been doing it by focusing on the catastrophic humanitarian consequences that these weapons have,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve 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.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BARWON Heads\u2019 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 […]<\/p>\n