The Powerbroker

From the ashes of the darkest event in human history,Australian Jews built a thriving community, one with proportionally moreHolocaust survivors than anywhere else in the world bar Israel. Mark Leiblergrew up in this community, and in time became a leader of it. This book showshow Leibler rose to a position of immense influence in Australian public lifeby skilfully entwining his roles as a Zionist leader and a tax lawyer to someof the country's richest people. 

The book vividly paints a cast of Australiancharacters among them Paul Keating, John Howard, Julia Gillard and NoelPearson - who came to know Leibler and to call him a friend, along with peoplelike Kevin Rudd and Bob Carr, who see Leibler as no friend at all. Finally, thebook charts the surprise turn in Leibler's life, when a social and politicalconservative became a committed advocate for radical reform on behalf ofAustralia's Indigenous people. 

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

'He taught me about power - how to get it and how touse it,' says Noel Pearson. Through one man's story, this book shows how powerworks in Australia.

“Power, he taught me about power. How to get it and how to use it. -- Noel Pearson”

Power, he taught me about power. How to get it and how to use it.

Michael Gawenda is one of Australia’s best-known journalists and authors. In a journalism career spanning four decades, Michael has been a political reporter, a foreign correspondent based in London and in Washington, a columnist, a feature writer, a senior editor at Time Magazine and the Editor and Editor-in-Chief of The Age in Melbourne from 1997 to 2004. He was the inaugural Director of the Centre for Advancing Journalism at the University of Melbourne. He is an honorary research fellow of the Centre.

From the ashes of the darkest event in human history,Australian Jews built a thriving community, one with proportionally moreHolocaust survivors than anywhere else in the world bar Israel. Mark Leiblergrew up in this community, and in time became a leader of it. This book showshow Leibler rose to a position of immense influence in Australian public lifeby skilfully entwining his roles as a Zionist leader and a tax lawyer to someof the country's richest people. The book vividly paints a cast of Australiancharacters - among them Paul Keating, John Howard, Julia Gillard and NoelPearson -- who came to know Leibler and to call him a friend, along with peoplelike Kevin Rudd and Bob Carr, who see Leibler as no friend at all. Finally, thebook charts the surprise turn in Leibler's life, when a social and politicalconservative became a committed advocate for radical reform on behalf ofAustralia's Indigenous people. This many-layered book is a portrait of Jewish life inAustralia, of the interaction between private wealth and politics, and of a manwhose energy, formidable work habits and forcefulness that often tips intopugnacity have made him a highly effective player in Australian affairs. 'He taught me about power -- how to get it and how touse it,' says Noel Pearson. Through one man's story, this book shows how powerworks in Australia.

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