PM’s wife tours Israel
JERUSALEM – The Prime Minister’s wife headed a group of top businesswomen on a mission to Israel this week, leading them on a hectic itinerary of high-tech innovators, universities and local politicians.
JERUSALEM – The Prime Minister’s wife headed a group of top businesswomen on a mission to Israel this week, leading them on a hectic itinerary of high-tech innovators, universities and local politicians.
Lucy Turnbull and the joint mission head Jillian Segal took 34 other women to key tourist sites, including Yad Vashem where they had a moving tour, and the Western Wall where they had time for private reflection.
Turnbull also played Israel’s favourite game: mishpachas, digging up a family connection with a family she encountered. Spending an evening at the residence of Australia’s ambassador to Israel Dave Sharma and his wife Rachel Lord, she said that she and Lord are distantly related. They are both descended from a seaman from the First Fleet by the name of Owen Cavanough.
Turnbull, a prominent businesswoman, signed up to lead the mission before her husband became PM, and was careful to avoid political meetings and kept a low profile with media.
She didn’t meet the current President Reuven Rivlin, but did take the mission to visit his predecessor Shimon Peres, and to one local politician, Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat. A former lord mayor of Sydney, she was interested to hear Barkat’s insights on local governance.
Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce (AICC) NSW chairman Segal told The AJN that the mission, the first all-women trip by the AICC, is to become an annual event. It made an impression on Israeli companies, with a number of prominent participants, including Lisa Sonnabend, COO of Macquarie Capital; Belinda Hutchinson, chancellor of the University of Sydney; Dr Annabelle Bennett, former justice of the Federal Court of Australia; and Evelyn Danos, chairperson of James Richardson.
Turnbull showed interest in a wide range of subjects during meetings, Segal noted, saying: “She’s a businesswoman and philanthropist, and interested in science and health.”
Segal added: “It’s been fabulous to have someone who’s such a senior businessperson bringing so many different areas of experience here.”
She summed up the trip in conversation with The AJN on Tuesday, after taking the group to visit the Technion, the Haifa-based university that drives many Israeli innovations. “Everyone has been very excited to be in Israel and amazed and impressed by what we’ve seen,” she said.
Many of the staples of the mission were the same as other AICC trips, though there was a change from the normal Friday night. Instead of a Friday night dinner with an Orthodox rabbi, for this all-women mission a female rabbi from the Reform movement, Rabbi Noa Sattath, was invited. Rabbi Sattath heads the Israel Religious Action Centre – the advocacy arm of the Reform movement in Israel.
Commenting to The AJN on Tuesday, delegates were enthusiastic about the mission.
“Under every rock I’ve picked up on this mission in Israel I have found first a thought-provoking question followed quickly by a valuable lesson,” said Diane Smith-Gander, chairman of Broadspectrum and non-executive director of Wesfarmers.
She went on to say: “There’s a spirit here that somehow allows enormous flexibility to coexist with supportive structures – we’ve seen it most in the way universities partner flexibly with industry to ensure researchers’ ideas are commercialised. And they do it in a way that allows everyone at the table to be rewarded.”
Fiona Balfour, non-executive director of Metcash, said: “I have found it of immense value, and in particular have gained an insight into the Israeli psyche and the Israeli economy, which are driving this start-up environment.”
Yasmin Allen, non-executive director of Cochlear, commented: “The mission has let us see firsthand the innovation culture in Israel. It has inspired us to take real ideas and an entrepreneurial attitude back to our companies in Australia.”
NATHAN JEFFAY
comments