Dutton’s mysterious free legal advice from prominent Melbourne firm

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has updated his gifts register two days before Christmas to reveal he is receiving free legal advice from a politically connected Melbourne law firm regarding undisclosed “legal matters”.

On December 23, Dutton declared three new gifts from different benefactors, including Chinese tea, a bottle of whiskey, and “ongoing legal assistance from Arnold Bloch Leibler re legal matters”.

Peter Dutton is receiving assistance from Melbourne commercial law firm Arnold Bloch Leibler. Credit: Eddie Jim

Arnold Bloch Leibler specialises in commercial law, particularly tax disputes, but also has a history of providing advice to politicians on matters ranging from defamation to their eligibility to serve in parliament.

“Our partners and lawyers are often at the centre of law reform and regularly advise on landmark matters,” the firm says on its website.

A spokeswoman for Dutton declined to answer questions about the nature of the advice, its dollar value and whether the opposition leader believed the gift created any perceived conflict of interest.

“We do not comment on any legal matters,” the spokeswoman said.

When asked about Dutton’s legal advice, Arnold Bloch Leibler senior partner Mark Leibler told this masthead: “I’m not going to talk about it”.

Centre for Public Integrity director Geoffrey Watson, SC.Credit: Rob Homer

Geoffrey Watson, SC, a barrister and a director of the Centre for Public Integrity, said Dutton should provide at least a general description to the public.

“There’s no way in the world that this could be regarded as a matter that could be compromised by a simple statement,” Watson said. “There’s just no reason why you would keep it a secret.”

Watson said disclosure was also important because large commercial law firms often receive government contracts.

According to the register of politicians’ interests, each MP is required to publicly record “interests which may conflict, or may be seen to conflict, with their public duty”.

Mark Leibler, an Arnold Bloch Leibler senior partner, also serves as chairman of the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council. Credit: Elke Meitzel

Former independent senator Rex Patrick, who declared pro bono legal advice in relation to freedom of information requests while in office, including from Watson, said while legal advice was confidential, “the general purpose of the advice should be disclosed along with the value, where possible”.

Patrick said: “Transparency from Mr Dutton is even more important, noting he is the leader of a political party and, in effect, sets the standard for the rest of his team.”

Leibler was a forceful advocate for an Indigenous Voice to parliament and on the opposite side of the debate to Dutton, who helped to defeat the proposal at last year’s referendum.

On the topic of Israel, the two are more closely aligned. Leibler serves as chairman of the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council, while his son Jeremy, also a partner at the firm, heads the Zionist Federation of Australia.

Dutton has been an outspoken critic of antisemitism and this month accused the federal Labor government of having “completely abandoned the Jewish community [and] the state of Israel” in votes on Palestine at the United Nations.

Dutton’s December 23 register of interests update.

The firm has a large pro bono practice catering to “more than 150 not-for-profits and community causes” and has provided free advice to politicians for more than a decade.

Former treasurer Josh Frydenberg declared assistance from the firm in 2017 and 2021. Other former Coalition MPs including Arthur Sinodinos and Jason Falinski also received free Arnold Bloch Leibler advice on their constitutional eligibility to serve in parliament amid the dual-citizenship saga.

One of the firm’s star partners, Leon Zwier, represented pro bono the then Labor opposition leader Bill Shorten during the 2015 Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption. In 2012, Zwier represented another opposition leader, Tony Abbott, who was facing a defamation lawsuit launched by CFMEU boss John Setka.

Arnold Bloch Leibler has donated money to both main political parties. It also gives gifts to individual MPs, such as opposition spokesman on home affairs James Paterson, who received a ticket to the Australian Open tennis tournament from the firm in January.

The firm’s 70th birthday last year drew politicians from both sides of the aisle, including Paterson and Albanese, although Dutton did not attend.

Dutton paid for his own lawyers, at the firm Baker McKenzie, in his protracted and ultimately unsuccessful defamation case against activist Shane Bazzi over a tweet about sexual assault in offshore detention.

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