Peter Cousens AM
Biography
​Peter Cousens AM is a senior cultural leader, executive practitioner, and incoming barrister with over 45 years’ experience working at the intersection of governance, public trust, creative leadership, and institutional accountability.
​
His career spans executive leadership, complex organisational governance, high-risk creative production, and nationally significant community work. He is the founder of a not-for-profit theatre company, former feature-film director of Freedom (starring Cuba Gooding Jr.), and a long-standing leader in arts education and cultural development. His work has involved managing significant budgets, contractual risk, unionised workforces, cross-sector stakeholders, and public accountability.
​
Peter brings rare lived experience of organisational failure and recovery, providing deep insight into governance breakdown, fiduciary responsibility, reputational risk, and institutional reform. This experience has informed his later work designing sustainable, ethically grounded programs and cultures across the arts and community sectors.
​
He holds a Master of Arts (Creative Writing) and has written and directed documentary work for the Daniel Morcombe Foundation. For eight years, he led the creation of values-based programs supporting emerging contemporary singer-songwriters and performers, balancing artistic excellence with duty of care and professional accountability.
​
Peter is the creator of Music & Memories and Life Songs, developed in collaboration with Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA). These initiatives translate narrative, identity, and lived experience into structured frameworks that support memory, wellbeing, and intergenerational connection.
In recognition of his services to the arts and the community, Peter was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM).
​
He has completed a Juris Doctor and has commenced Practical Legal Training, with the intention of being admitted and called to the Bar. His legal interests include public law, employment and industrial relations, governance and regulatory matters, human rights, and disputes involving power imbalance, institutional accountability, and credibility.
​
Peter brings to legal practice a distinctive combination of executive judgment, advocacy presence, narrative intelligence, and deep understanding of how institutions affect real lives—particularly when systems fail.
