Mark Leibler calls for WA Bar Association to apologise over Julian Burnside defence
Mark Leibler has blasted the WA Bar Association’s backing of Julian Burnside, who equated Israel to the Nazis.
Prominent Melbourne lawyer Mark Leibler has slammed the Western Australian Bar Association over its defence of Julian Burnside and has called on the association’s president to apologise.
In a letter sent to WA Bar Association president Martin Cuerden SC, Mr Leibler – the senior partner at Arnold Bloch Leibler and the national chairman of the Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council – expressed his “personal and professional astonishment” of Mr Cuerden’s criticism of federal Liberal senator Sarah Henderson.
Ms Henderson had called for Mr Burnside to be stripped of his QC status and his Order of Australia after the prominent human rights lawyer – who also has ties to the Greens – sent a tweet equating Israel’s treatment of Palestine to Nazi Germany’s persecution of the Jews. Mr Burnside has since deleted the tweet and apologised.
Ms Henderson’s actions prompted Mr Cuerden to write to the senator, expressing what he said were the association’s “grave concern” over her calls for Mr Burnside to be stripped of certain privileges. He also accused the senator of undermining freedom of speech and democratic liberal values.
In his letter to Mr Cuerden – a copy of which was also sent to The Australian – Mr Leibler said he profoundly disapproved of Mr Cuerden’s comments.
“I am genuinely baffled that, as President of the WA Bar Association, you would see it as appropriate to rebuke an Australian Senator for suggesting that a high-profile member of the profession, who makes an undeniably antisemitic comment via social media, should face professional consequences,” Mr Leibler wrote.
“Let’s be clear, no one is seeking to limit Julian Burnside’s freedom of speech.
“By deleting the tweet, it would seem that even Burnside himself recognised, after the fact, that his comments had crossed the line into antisemitism. A fact that seems to be readily recognised by virtually all public commentators from the far left to the right. The sole exception seems to be the WA Bar Association.”
Mr Leibler said Mr Cuerden should withdraw his letter, apologise to Ms Henderson and issue “an unambiguous condemnation of Julian Burnside’s antisemitism”.
He also invited Mr Cuerden to meet with a Holocaust survivor “who can offer you some much-needed education on this subject”.
“As someone who experienced antisemitism some 50 years ago as a young lawyer in this country, it is inconceivable to me that in the year 2021, the president of a State bar association would suggest that a respected member of the Bar spreading antisemitic hate is ‘a matter of public interest’,” Mr Leibler wrote.
Mr Cuerden told The Australian on Tuesday that his letter to Ms Henderson had been sent with the approval and support of the Bar Council.
He said his letter had met with a significant response from WA Bar members that – with the exception of two members – had been “entirely supportive” of the letter.
“There is a vital point at issue here, which Senator Henderson seems unable to grasp, namely the basic distinction between defending a person's comment (which I have not done) and defending their right in a free and democratic society to make it. It is unfortunate that Senator Henderson refuses (or is unable) to understand this distinction,” Mr Cuerden said.
“The language of Mr Burnside’s comment was highly offensive and such as to warrant public condemnation. The concern which I expressed was over the fact that Senator Henderson did not attack or condemn Mr Burnside’s comments through reasoned argument and dialogue as should occur in a free and democratic society, but instead called for, and sought to put in train, punitive measures against him as a result of his comment.”
Mr Burnside last week formally abandoned his attempt to win the Liberal Melbourne heartland seat of Kooyong for the Greens.
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