Media Releases

Media Release

Michael Gawenda, one of Australia’s best-known journalists and authors and former Editor-in-Chief of The Age in Melbourne has written a biography of AIJAC National Chairman Mark Leibler AC titled “The Power Broker”.

The book will be launched by former Prime Minister of Australia, the Hon Julia Gillard AC and indigenous activist, Mr Noel Pearson on Monday 20 July 2020 at 6pm sharp here: https://www.monash.edu/news/events/launch-of-michael-gawendas-latest-book

Some more information about the book:

“From the ashes of the darkest event in human history, Australian Jews built a thriving community, one with proportionally more Holocaust survivors than anywhere in the world bar Israel. Mark Leibler grew up in this community, and in time became a leader of it. This book shows how Leibler rose to a position of immense influence in Australian public life by skilfully entwining his roles as Zionist leader and a tax lawyer to some of the country’s richest people.

The book vividly paints a cast of Australian characters – among them Paul Keating, John Howard, Julia Gillard and Noel Pearson – who came to know Leibler and to call him a friend, along with people like Kevin Rudd and Bob Carr, who see Leibler as no friend at all.

Finally, the book charts the surprise turn in Leibler’s life, when a social and political conservative became a committed advocate for a radical reform on behalf of Australia’s indigenous people.

This many-layered book is a portrait of Jewish life in Australia, of the interaction between private wealth and politics, and of a man whose energy, formidable work habits and forcefulness that often tips into pugnacity have made him a highly effective player in Australian affairs.”