Fifty Jews from across Australia were selected to attend a special summit convened by the prime minister.
Kevin Rudd called for the April 14 Jewish summit, a forum of ideas on the biggest challenges facing Australia, because his 2020 Summit of the 1,000 “best and brightest” Australians clashed with Passover on April 19 and 20.
Among those selected from more than 80 names provided by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry were Professor Ron Penny, the commissioner of the Health Reform Commission; Phil Green, the CEO of the investment bank Babcock & Brown, who was in Israel last week to open an office there; Brian Schwartz, the CEO of Investec Bank and deputy chair of the Football Federation Australia; Steven Lowy, the managing director of the shopping mall empire Westfield Group; Brian Sherman, the president of the board of trustees of the Australian Museum; and Rabbi James Kennard, the principal of Mount Scopus Memorial College who arrived last year from Britain.
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