Profile 路 Australia
Senator Peter Whish-Wilson
Politician Greens Retiring 2025 馃嚘馃嚭 lutruwita/Tasmania
Bio
Peter Whish-Wilson is an Australian Greens senator for lutruwita/Tasmania, serving from 2012 to 2025. Before entering parliament he worked as an investment banker, then as a winemaker in Tasmania's Tamar Valley. As a senator he has held the Greens portfolios for finance, oceans, fisheries, and the marine environment, with longstanding focus on Antarctic policy and Southern Ocean conservation.
His engagement with UAP began in October 2021, when he asked the first formal question of the modern Senate era about Australian government engagement with the topic. He continued questioning through Senate Estimates hearings in 2022, May 2024, and 27 November 2024. The persistence of those questions, supported in the background by researcher Grant Lavac providing suggested wording, produced the FOI document chain that contradicted Air Marshal Robert Chipman's earlier Senate Estimates statements about US briefings on UAP.
Whish-Wilson announced his retirement from federal politics on 20 October 2025 in an interview with ABC Radio Hobart. His departure leaves an open question about which Australian parliamentarian, if any, will continue the line of inquiry he developed across four parliamentary years.
On UAP
Whish-Wilson has stated in multiple interviews that his interest in the topic is partly personal. A friend who served on a Royal Australian Navy ship in the 1990s reported observing a metallic "tic-tac" shape from the deck during a military exercise. He has cited this as the encounter that moved the topic from background curiosity to active parliamentary concern.
His Senate Estimates questions have focused on whether Defence has a current reporting protocol (it does not), whether Defence has been briefed by US counterparts on UAP (the FOI documents established that it had been, contradicting Defence's earlier testimony), and what engagement Defence Science and Technology Group personnel have had with the USAF Air Force Research Laboratory on the topic.
Notable Public Statements
"A friend of mine was on a Navy vessel and saw something that looked very much like the Tic Tac. The Tic Tac shape. He has never been able to explain it. That's what got me interested."
"I asked the Chief of Air Force twice in Senate Estimates whether Australia had been briefed on UAP by the United States. The answer was no on both occasions. The FOI documents now say something different. The Senate is owed an explanation."
"It's a topic that's not going away. Other Five Eyes nations have committees, agencies, and legislation. Australia has none of that. The position is that we monitor what allies do. That is not a credible position any more."
Where to Find Them
In the Archive
Editorial note. This profile is built from publicly available material: Senator Whish-Wilson's on-record Senate Estimates testimony, Hansard transcripts, ABC Radio Hobart interviews, and statements to Australian media. The NHI Archive is non-partisan and documents the parliamentary record across all parties and chambers. If the senator's office sees anything that needs correcting, please get in touch.
