One of Australia’s most successful lawyers has drawn parallels between the centrality of the state of Israel in Jewish life and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders’ connections to land in a call for Australians to know and support the Indigenous voice to parliament.
Mark Leibler made the comparison at a gathering of leaders in business, politics and Indigenous affairs to mark the 70th anniversary of the Melbourne law firm founded by Arnold Bloch. Early clients were mostly Jewish refugees who had fled Nazi Europe with a determination and an imperative to build better lives for themselves and their families.
Arnold Bloch Leibler, which now specialises in advising on high-stakes transactions and disputes, famously nurtured a young Noel Pearson. Mr Leibler is Mr Pearson’s mentor.
On Monday night at the Grand Hyatt in Collins St, Anthony Albanese, Marcia Langton and Mr Pearson were among the 900 guests when Mr Leibler said: “My sense of the ties between my Jewish heritage, the centrality of the state of Israel, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander traditions and cultures grew even stronger through my former articled clerk and great friend, Noel Pearson.
“Noel has often described our two peoples as sharing a ‘land-based identity’ – historical and spiritual.
“Noel also says that Indigenous Australians can and must resist victimhood, as the Jewish people have done, even in the face of persistent racism and victimisation. This is where the voice comes in.”
Read the article by Paige Taylor and Rosie Lewis in The Australian.