Peter Wilkinson

Peter Wilkinson spent 30 years in journalism, including 12 years at 60 Minutes, before co-founding Wilkinson Group in 2002. He foresaw the internet killing premium television journalism before most of his colleagues. In 2013, he and Claire Wilkinson sold the business to employees, who established Wilkinson Butler. Peter stayed as Chair.

In 2025, he asked a prescient question: what does a communications consultancy look like in 2030? His answer: senior consultants, strongly supported by AI. In early 2026 he built that firm as the new Wilkinson Group.

His crisis work over 24 years: cyber-security attacks, sexual abuse matters, judicial inquiries, extortion, product recalls, pollution incidents, hostile activist campaigns. Peter is also an expert in crisis simulations, the discipline of finding weaknesses in organizations before they break in public.

He has served on four industry task forces and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.