Voice to parliament: Jews ‘recognise Indigenous ties to land’, says Mark Leibler

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.

Marcia Langton, Mark Leibler, Anthony Albanese and Noel Pearson at the Grand Hyatt in Melbourne on Monday night. Picture: Aaron Francis

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.”

Mr Leibler was co-chair of the Referendum Council, jointly appointed in December 2015 by then prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and Labor leader Bill Shorten to advise on constitutional reform. Its final report 18 months later recommended a referendum on the voice.

“We are privileged as Australians that our history encompasses the most ancient, enduring culture on Earth,” Mr Leibler told guests on Monday.

“That is why successive governments and the vast majority of Australians have come to believe that the Constitution, our founding document, should recognise and celebrate this richness.”

Mr Leibler was in a side room at the Uluru convention in 2017 when 250 Indigenous delegates from across Australia endorsed the Uluru Statement from the Heart and its call for a voice. He watched on a monitor as the participants agreed on behalf of the communities that had selected them to represent their wishes at the three-day meeting.

“I wish that every non-Indigenous Australian had had the ­opportunity I had to observe the final session of the National Convention in 2017 where the Uluru Statement from the Heart ­received unanimous support by acclamation,” he said.

“The hope, the joy, a sense of having reached a turning point in our shared history – all those feelings were palpable.

“The experience will stay with me for as long as I live. And it will most certainly be with me when I cast my vote at the referendum later this year.

“My vote will be a resounding YES vote – not just because of my absolute confidence in the legal underpinnings of the constitutional change being proposed. Not for political reasons. But ­because I know it’s the right thing to do. The moral thing to do.”

Mr Leibler spoke a few hours after Mr Albanese weighed in for the first time on controversy surrounding No campaigner Gary Johns, declaring the fact he’d been “given a significant role in the No campaign is of concern”.

Dr Johns, a former Labor minister, told a conservative forum on Sunday: “If you want a voice, learn English. That’s your voice.”  The Prime Minister responded: “I am concerned about a whole range of comments that Gary Johns has made, not just on the weekend but over a long period of time when it comes to a failure to show any respect for Indigenous Australians.

“The Yes campaign is about ­recognising the great privilege we have of sharing this continent with the oldest continuous culture on Earth but it is also about making sure that we listen to Indigenous Australians so as to get better results.”

Leading No campaigner Warren Mundine, who is campaigning in Perth and will be in western Sydney later this week, has stood by Dr Johns previously and on Monday had no comment in ­response to Mr Albanese.

The Conservative Political ­Action Conference in Sydney at the weekend created more than one controversy. Its gold sponsor, crowdfunder GiveSendGo, was found in August by the US anti-defamation league to have facilitated the majority of $6.2m raised by and for extremists including neo Nazis. The Sydney conference’s chosen comedian Rodney Marks, who refers to himself as a hoax speaker, drew laughs at the conference when he said: “I’d like to acknowledge the traditional rent seekers – past present and emerging.” The crowd appeared not to laugh when he went on to say: “Seriously, I want to acknowledge the traditional owners: violent black men.”

The Uluru Dialogue campaign, led by Indigenous women who support the voice, called on leaders of the No campaign to end the use of racist “jokes” and misinformation as the voice referendum nears.