Our Advisory Council - New Israel Fund Australia

Our Advisory Council

What is the Advisory Council?

NIF Australia's Advisory Council provides guidance and support as needed to the organisation's board and staff. We are privileged to be joined and supported by these eminent members of the Australian Jewish community.

Melissa Castan

Melissa is an Associate Professor in the Law Faculty at Monash University and a Member of the Board of the Victorian Law Foundation. She publishes widely in issues of public law, legal education and human rights. She holds a PhD in Law (Monash) and is the National Editor of the Alternative Law Journal.

Melissa Castan

Lee Ann Basser

Lee Ann Basser is the CEO of the National Council of Jewish Women Australia (Vic). A foundation member of the New Israel Fund Australia Board and former Reader and Associate Professor of Law at La Trobe University (Vic). Lee Ann is a former member of the Victorian Disability Advisory Council and has served on a number of policy advisory committees and has extensive experience in the community sector.

Lee Ann Basser

Robin Margo

Robin Margo is a former Senior Counsel and has served in many Jewish leadership roles, including as president of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, as member of the Committee of Management of the ECAJ and of the Executive of the Jewish Communal Appeal and as director of the Council for Jewish Community Security (NSW) P/L. He was a foundation director of The Sydney Alliance, one of the founders and first editor-in-chief of Plus61J Media and inaugural president of NIF Australia from 2011-2014.

Robin Margo

Justice Ronald Sackville AO

Ronald Sackville AO was a Judge of the Federal Court of Australia from 1994 until 2008. He is currently an Acting Judge of Appeal of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and a Visiting Professorial Fellow at the University of New South Wales. Prior to his appointment as a Judge, he held a variety of positions, including Dean of the Faculty of Law in the University of New South Wales (1979-1981), Chairman of the New South Wales Law Reform Commission (1981-1984) and Chairman of the Judicial Conference of Australia (2004-2006).

Ronald Sackville

Irving Wallach

Irving is a Sydney barrister and a member of Forbes Chambers. In 2011 he was a founding board member of NIF Australia, president from 2014 to 2016 and currently a member of the NIF international council. A longtime community activist, Irving is the son of Polish Holocaust survivors. Irving has occupied many leadership positions in the Sydney Jewish community, including as executive member and honorary secretary of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, board member of Moriah College and of Mt Sinai College, Sydney Jewish Left president, WUJS secretary general, and AUJS national secretary. The documentary “A Town Called Brzostek” told the story of his mother being hidden by her Catholic neighbour and Irving’s meeting with her grandson.

Irving Wallach