PM pledges to stand by Israel
IN his first appearance at a Jewish function since being elected Prime Minister, Tony Abbott pledged to “commit the new Australian Government to stand by the State of Israel” a country he described as a “bastion of liberal pluralism and democratic freedom in a part of the world where these ideals are almost unknown.”
IN his first appearance at a Jewish function since being elected Prime Minister, Tony Abbott pledged to “commit the new Australian Government to stand by the State of Israel” a country he described as a “bastion of liberal pluralism and democratic freedom in a part of the world where these ideals are almost unknown.”
Addressing 400 members of Mount Scopus Memorial College’s major fundraising body, the Scopus Foundation, at Palladium at Crown last Thursday, the PM said the Jewish State had been “founded in defiance, sustained by brilliance, surrounded even now by hostility,” adding “it is under existential threat the like of which no country on the earth faces.”
In lauding the colossal contribution Australian Jews have made to public service, Abbott joked that the only office yet to be held by an Australian Jew was that of prime minister, but that a “popular” Jewish politician in his ranks could change that in future.
“Along with Israel, Australia is the only country on earth where Jewish people have been head of state, chief justice and commander in chief of the army. There’s just one office in this country yet to be held by a Jewish person. That’s the prime ministership. But the time will come, as Josh Frydenberg constantly reminds me, when that will change.”
Frydenberg, Abbott’s parliamentary secretary, was among the guests, who also included Education Minister Christopher Pyne, Member for Kooyong Kelly O’Dwyer and Israel’s new Ambassador to Australia, Shmuel Ben-Shmuel.
Turning to his education policy, Abbott went on to praise Mount Scopus’s values and practices as a model for public schools to emulate as they become independent.
“We want the state schools of this country to be even better,” Abbott said. “We want them in fact to develop the best characteristics of the best independent schools, the principal autonomy, the parental engagement, the high academic standards … that’s what we want to see in all schools … just as we see it so obviously in a great school like Mount Scopus,” Abbott said.
It was announced at the dinner that the foundation’s chairman, businessman and philanthropist Solomon Lew will be vacating the role after 26 years at the helm.
In announcing Lew’s departure, foundation president Henry Lanzer said his “inspirational leadership” would be honoured with the renaming of the secondary school as The Lew Family Secondary School.
Abbott praised the “generosity of spirit” and foresight of the creators of the foundation, which was established just a few days after the 1987 Black Monday stock market crash.
“What a remarkable performance to start a foundation at the nadir of capitalism and to build it up to be worth 46 million dollars,” he said.
TIMNA JACKS
Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
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