Goot returns to ECAJ helm
ROBERT Goot is looking forward to reprising his role as president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), after returning to the post for the second time in his communal career at the roof body’s annual meeting on Sunday.
ROBERT Goot is looking forward to reprising his role as president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), after returning to the post for the second time in his communal career at the roof body’s annual meeting on Sunday.
The Sydney barrister said he aims to build on the work of his first term, in 2007-10. “In my first term, we put the ECAJ on a new footing, we professionalised it. It’s unfinished business, and my colleagues in NSW asked me to stand. I believe I have a contribution to make,” he told The AJN.
Ensuring that legislative safeguards against racial vilification are not diminished will be his foremost goal as president, he said. “Section 18C [of the Racial Discrimination Act] epitomises the necessary protections in a diverse, multicultural society against hate speech. It is as important to our democracy as other laws limiting freedom of speech, for example, in trade and commerce.”
The ECAJ will also deal comprehensively with other issues relating to governments, faith groups and the public service, he added.
PETER KOHN
Returning ECAJ president Robert Goot.
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