In late 2005, Peter Baines founded Hands Across the Water to raise funds for awareness about the orphaned children of Thailand. 

In his final years with the New South Wales Police, Peter spent time on secondment at the National Institute of Forensic Science, building projects around counterterrorism and leadership. 

He advised Interpol in France and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in Southeast Asia. He also worked in Saudi Arabia and Japan, following disasters that had fallen upon those countries.

He has raised over $30 million for Hand Across the Water which has built several children's homes across Thailand, purchased a rubber plantation to create a sustainable regular income, constructed a community centre in the Cadillac region of Thailand, and a digital learning centre in the Northeast. 

The charity now has operations in seven different locations in Thailand, provides a home for several hundred children every night, supported more than 30 children through university, all of whom have graduated and look forward to a life of choice rather than chance. 

Peter has written four books, Hands Across the Water, Doing Good by Doing Good, Leadership Matters and in 2025, Together We Can. 33 Marathons in 26 days. A run to remember so we never forget.