'Voice to Parliament: A Community Education Event'

ABOUT: In partnership with Progressive Judaism Victoria, Kol Halev, the Jewish Museum of Australia and The King David School, we invite you to join us at King David to hear Noel Pearson, Prof. Melissa Castan and Mark Leibler AC as they answer your questions on the upcoming voice to parliament referendum. 

Don't miss out!

CONTACT: voice@standup.org.au
www.standup.org.au/kol_halev

PANEL: 

Noel Pearson - Noel comes from the Guugu Yimithirr community of Hope Vale. For over 30 years, Mr Pearson has pursued key agendas to achieve land rights and socioeconomic development outcomes for Cape York. He co-founded the Cape York Land Council and negotiated with the Keating government to establish the Native Title Act 1993 after the High Court’s landmark Mabo decision rejected the fiction of terra nullius. 

After seeing socioeconomic problems that were not present in his childhood accumulate, Mr Pearson has focused on pioneering empowering and holistic approaches to welfare reform, and transforming educational outcomes for disadvantaged students. 

He is the Founder of Cape York Partnership and Good to Great Schools Australia and has co-founded other organisations also dedicated to ameliorating entrenched disadvantage of ‘The Bottom Million’. 

Mr Pearson served as a member of the Expert Panel on Constitutional Recognition of Indigenous Australians and the Referendum Council. He is currently a member of the First Nations Referendum Working Group and continues to advocate for structural reforms to empower Indigenous people.

Prof Melissa Castan - Melissa is a Professor at the Monash Law Faculty and the Director of the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law. Her family were ‘new Australians’ -  refugees from persecution in Eastern Europe who came to Australia seeking safety and the opportunity to build their new lives in what they were told was a ‘new nation'. 

Melissa teaches and writes in human rights law and public and constitutional law, and her research focuses on opportunities for the recognition and implementation of proper legal relations with First Nations people. 

Her most recent book is 'Time to Listen - An Indigenous Voice to Parliament' with Professor Lynette Russell (https://publishing.monash.edu/product/time-to-listen/)

Mark Leibler AC - Mark is senior partner at Arnold Bloch Leibler and head of the firm’s renowned tax practice. A passionate advocate for social justice and human rights, Mark and his firm have demonstrated a profound commitment to Indigenous rights and empowerment over three decades. In 2010, former Prime Minister Julia Gillard appointed Mark to co-chair the Expert Panel on Constitutional Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians and, in 2015, he was subsequently appointed by former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten to co-chair the Referendum Council, which culminated in the release of the Uluru Statement from the Heart.

Mark is also deeply involved in Jewish affairs, having occupied leadership roles in Jewish organisations in Australia and internationally. He is National Chairman of the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council, Life Chairman of the United Israel Appeal of Australia and Governor of the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce. He is also a Patron of the Victorian Chapter of the Australian Friends of Tel Aviv University.