Professor Peter Macdonald returned to St Vincent’s Hospital on Friday after his suspension, but the Victor Chang Laboratory is still excluding him from doing his research. Wendy Bacon and Cathy Peters investigate.
Ten years ago, Macdonald developed the revolutionary ‘Heart in a Box’ technology at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute (VCCRI), but he has not been there for seven weeks after asking a question at a Palestinian Justice Movement community forum, suggesting that Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad could have been involved in two antisemitism attacks. VCCRI was not mentioned at the forum.
Nor was St Vincent’s Hospital, which, last Friday morning, removed a statement from its website which implied Macdonald was antisemitic and racist. But an equally damaging statement remains on the VCCRI website, parts of which were published by The Australian.
St Vincent’s crisis triage: heart doctor Macdonald back on the wards after witchhunt
In an extraordinary attack on his colleague without any investigation, CEO Professor Jason Kovacic described Macdonald’s comments (which did not mention Jewish or Israeli people) as “antithetical to our aim of fostering community wellbeing. The Institute condemns antisemitism, racism, and all forms of discrimination.”
Macdonald is one of four key researchers who received a large Federal government grant last year to conduct human clinical trials for a drug using a spider venom peptide, which has
the potential to save thousands of those who experience heart attacks and strokes.
Calls to retract
When Greens MLC, Sue Higginson, wrote to Kovacic calling on VCCRI to retract its statement, which she described as based on “unfounded and implied accusations”, Kovacic replied, denying any unfairness to Macdonald and stating that an investigation was being conducted, “according to our own documented policies, values and expectations applicable to all persons connected with the Institute.
The investigation is necessarily specific to the facts concerning Professor Macdonald’s statements. The Institute disagrees that it has predetermined an outcome or acted in a manner which impliedly or otherwise denies legal rights.”
Kovacic’s repudiation of Macdonald stands in stark contrast to the Victor Chang Institute’s frequent promotion of him, including for his caring and egalitarian attitudes.
Only a couple of months ago, on July 16th, VCCRI shared an interview done with him by the ABC. The Facebook comment read, “We’re thrilled to share an inspiring interview with our very own Professor Peter Macdonald … Discover [his] incredible career, from his groundbreaking work with Dr Victor Chang, to establishing his heart transplant research lab at the Institute.”
How can this rapid repudiation of a valued colleague be explained? It is unlikely Kovacic would have issued his statement without Board approval. Both Kovacic and VCCRI Chair, investment banker Matthew Grounds, have refused to answer any questions.
Packer and Lowy families’ influence
One thing is clear. Macdonald would still be at VCCRI lab, where he has worked since 1994, if not for the influence of the pro-Israel lobby.
MWM is not alleging that all individuals mentioned in this article are responsible for Macdonald’s exclusion. Rather, we explore the pro-Israeli links of those who have helped shape VCCRI’s success story.
From its beginnings in 1994, VCCRI has been governed and supported by some of Australia’s most powerful and richest businesspeople.
Media mogul Kerry Packer and shopping centre developer Frank Lowy and their families were substantial early donors and later earned the right to have the building in which the Institute is now housed named after them.
Kerry’s son James Packer is a personal friend of Israeli PM Netanyahu and declared that their friendship was as close as ever after they dined in Washington last year. He was also a friend of the ex-head of Mossad Yosi Cohen, who last week claimed to have developed the “exploding beepers” used recently in Lebanon as part of a “far wider, systematic deployment of sophisticated devices worldwide.”
Ros Packer and her son James, along with Frank Lowy and his three sons, are all Life Governors and significant donors to the VCCRI. The Packers’ latest donation of $3.75 million was in December 2023.
Frank Lowy built the Westfield shopping empire and sold it for $32 billion in 2017. He then moved to his ‘home’ of Israel, and this year was awarded the Israeli Presidential medal. On Frank’s 90th birthday in 2020, then CEO, Professor Bob Graham thanked the Lowy family for their major contribution to VCCRI.
The Lowys continue to play an important role at VCCRI. Frank’s oldest son, Steven, chaired the VCCRI Board from 2008-2013. He remains one of two current Patrons of the Institute and has personally contributed to the endowed Chair of Medicine currently held by Kovacic.
Few Australians could claim to have done more for Israel than Steven Lowy, who sees himself as “a soldier in the Diaspora fighting antisemitism”. He chaired the international board of trustees of the Keren Hayesod/United Israel Appeal until recently.
Under his leadership, it raised more funds for Israel than ever before. He is on the Executive and Board of Governors of the US-based global organisation, the Jewish Agency for Israel. He is a good friend of Israel’s President Isaac Herzog, who thanked him for his ‘exemplary leadership’ at a ceremony in his home late last year.
Steven Lowy is deeply disturbed by the strength of the pro-Palestinian movement in Australia. In receiving an honorary doctorate from UNSW last year, he gave a speech and an interview to The Australian in which he outlined his stance on the Israel-Palestine issue. He accused protesters of antisemitism, the Greens of supporting terrorism and said ‘Australian values’ were under threat.
Beyond his work at VCCRI, Steven Lowy has been involved in AUSiMED, an organisation that builds medical links between Australia and Israel. VCCRI is one of its Australian partners. Early this year, AUSiMED held an event to honour the Lowy family. Stephen Lowy again used the opportunity to talk about the importance of showing unity in the face of what he perceives as antisemitism.
Matthew Grounds & Gary Weiss
When Lowy resigned as Chair in 2013, he handed over to Matthew Grounds. Grounds then still worked at UBS which was the first major international bank to operate in Israel. Grounds had been a close advisor to James Packer and the Lowys.
During his years at UBS, the bank invested in Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems, as it continues to do today. Grounds left UBS in 2019 and is now an executive chairperson of Barrenjoey Partners, of which David Gonski is the Board Chair. Gonski recently chaired the Combat Antisemitism Conference on the Gold Coast.
Critics of Antisemitism Summit ‘antisemitic’ says Israeli antisemitism chief
Today, aside from Grounds, there are seven external business members on the VCCRI Board, several of whom have links to pro-Israeli organisations.
The longest serving member of the Board – since 2009 – is Gary Weiss. Weiss is an astute businessman and well-known corporate raider with interests in property and entertainment. A long-time supporter of Israel, he was previously a director of the Australia-Israel Jewish Affairs Council. He served on the Westfield Board with the Lowys and David Gonski and is a director of the conservative Centre for Independent Studies. The Packers and Lowys attended his extravagant 50th birthday party.
Earlier this year, Weiss met with the former Israeli Ambassador to the US, Michael Oren, who was in Australia for discussions about strategic ties between Israel and Australia.
Present at this meeting were former ambassador to the US Arthur Sinodinos, long-term supporters of Technion in Israel, Ruth and Bob Magid, President of the Jewish Board of Deputies, David Ossip, and Peter Wertheim, co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, which called for the suspension of Macdonald in September.
They discussed “security, diplomacy, and economic cooperation”. Oren tweeted, “Israel and Australia’s ties are more critical than ever. This is just the beginning”.
Weiss’s son Ben Weiss, who has said he frequently turns to his father for advice, is a venture capitalist in Israel. Ben was recently involved in the promotion of business links between Israel and Australia and New Zealand by the Israel Trade Commission Australia.
Mark Leibler
Gary Weiss also has a long association with pro-Israeli lobbyist Mark Leibler, senior partner of law firm Arnold Block Leibler, which has represented him and some of his companies over many years. Leibler has a long record of political lobbying in favour of Israel.
Israel, Gaza and Australian politics: master lobbyist Mark Leibler reveals how power really works
Arnold Block Leibler (ABL) is represented on the VCCRI Board by its partner and private wealth expert Christine Fleer. Christine Fleer is also a director of the Besen Family Foundation, which awards grants both in Australia and to Israel through the United Israel Appeal.
Another member of the VCCRI board is Peter Allen, who was the Lowys’ chief financial officer at Westfields. He is now CEO of Scentre Group, which bought the Australian Westfield. Allen describes Stephen Lowy as a friend and mentor.
Last week, when global soap company Lush closed its Australian stores for a day in solidarity with Gaza, the Scentre staff covered its signs at Westfield Bondi Junction. The Australian Jewish Association accused it of antisemitism and reported that Scentre was terminating the lease.
Recently retired Reserve Bank governor Phillip Lowe has joined the board of both Barrenjoey Capital and VCCRI. In 2023, Lowe gave an exclusive presentation for special guests at the Australian-Israel Chamber of Commerce events.
VCCRI’s lack of transparency
VCCRI Board members and a few staff who strongly support Israel do not represent the staff or supporters of the VCCRI. But their influence, unspoken or otherwise, has been sufficient to keep one of Australia’s top cardiologists away from his research lab for nearly two months.
It is hard to think of any work that could be more in the broader public interest than a publicly funded research that could save thousands of lives.
There are two questions that arise from this strong Zionist involvement with the VCCRI. Firstly, is it appropriate that a leading Australian medical research institute that attracts both public and private funding is under the influence of active defenders of Israel, which has been found to be prosecuting a genocide in Palestine, to the point of defaming one of its leading researchers?
Secondly, what guarantees are there that any investigation of Macdonald by the VCCRI will be open and transparent and abide by the rules of natural justice or that other staff members might not be similarly attacked in the future?
Antisemitism? St Vincent’s heartless treatment of cardiologist who asked a question
This post was originally published on Michael West.