St Vincent’s Hospital and the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute have gone to ground following their controversial antisemitism claims against suspended cardiologist Peter McDonald. Wendy Bacon and Cathy Peters on free speech and the Israel lobby.
Leading Australian cardiologist, Professor Peter MacDonald, has not been at work at St Vincent’s for a month after he made a 30-second comment about a potential link between Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad and two antisemitic incidents in Australia at a Palestinian Justice Movement forum in Sydney.
A few days later, the pro-Israel medical lobby group Alliance Against Antisemitism in Health Care complained to his employers, St Vincent’s Australia and the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, accusing him of anti-semitism.
The institutions quickly issued media releases labelling Macdonald’s comment as “antisemitic, racist and bigoted”, “antisemitic and conspiratorial” and “antithetical to our aim of fostering community wellbeing”.
Antisemitism? St Vincent’s heartless treatment of cardiologist who asked a question
While Macdonald has maintained his silence, Zionist right-wing media, including The Australian, amplified the attacks.
St Vincent’s has now initiated an inquiry into whether Macdonald’s conduct breached its workplace code of conduct, which states that “fairness is the bar we set ourselves”.
St Vincent’s Paul O’Sullivan ducks for cover
But in this case, St Vincent’s and its partner Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute’s ill-considered media releases, which remain on their websites, raise serious questions about how any such inquiry can be fair, open-minded and independent. St Vincent’s Health Australia and its Chair, Paul O’Sullivan, refuse to answer any questions.
Who decided these peremptory media releases were appropriate, and who saw and authorised them before release? In particular, what influence does the pro-Israel lobby carry at St Vincent’s?
MWM is not alleging that any of the individuals or organisations mentioned in this article have been involved in the action against Macdonald.
In the absence of transparency, however, it is important to reveal what influence the lobby might exercise over St Vincent’s and the broader health system, especially in the light of the cancellation of ‘Grand Rounds’ seminars on the impact of war on children at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne and the forum on medical care in Gaza at Perth’s Fiona Stanley Hospital after antisemitism complaints.
St Vincent’s, Israel, the AICC, Optus and ANZ
The St Vincent’s Board is ultimately responsible for the public statement and any decisions made on the back of an Inquiry into Professor MacDonald’s comment.
St Vincent’s Health Australia is a network of hospitals, including the two major St Vincent’s Hospitals in Sydney and Melbourne, a number of private hospitals and aged care and community health services.
Chris Blake is the Group CEO of St Vincent’s Health Australia, with Paul O’Sullivan becoming Chair on August 1 this year. O’Sullivan has been a board member since 2019 and Deputy Chair since 2024.
O’Sullivan has had a long relationship with the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce (AICC), and more recently, Blake has also been featured at their events. The AICC is a large and influential pro-Zionist organisation dedicated to building business relationships with Israel.
O’Sullivan is best known for his work at Optus, where he worked for three decades. This week, the AFR described him as “the most influential figure” in a crisis-ridden company over the last 20 years. He was CEO from 2004 to 2012 and Chairman from 2014 until he stepped down on August 25 2025. He is also currently Chair of ANZ and Western Sydney Airport.
He attracted media attention in September 2023 when Optus suffered its first emergency outage, leaving 10 million customers without internet or phone services for hours. He was also Chair of Optus when its Board promised that a report of an inquiry into a cyberattack would be released. Since then, Optus has unsuccessfully fought in two court proceedings to keep it suppressed.
In late September, the Federal Court imposed a $100m penalty on Optus for unconscionable conduct in misleading vulnerable Australians into buying phones.
Paul O’Sullivan has also chaired ANZ since 2020. Last week, the bank was slapped by corporate regulators ASIC with a record $240m fine for unconscionable conduct, including for failing to refund fees to thousands of deceased customers.
What is less known than these high-profile corporate activities is O’Sullivan’s strong support for Israel over decades, especially through the AICC. O’Sullivan is listed as one of the 14 Governors of the AICC, “who are all great supporters and friends of the AICC and Israel”.
Optus has had a business partnership with the AICC for 32 years.
In 2011, O’Sullivan said in a speech to the AICC on behalf of Optus, “The Chamber is amazing. I have done a couple of trips now to Israel with the Chamber and each time have been so impressed with the … efficiency with which they connect Australian companies and Israeli companies.”
As revealed by MWM earlier this year, in 2012, the AICC and the Israel Trade Commission hosted a ‘Cyber Roadshow’ tour of 12 Israeli weapons and cyber security companies, including Israel’s largest weapons company, Elbit Systems
Investigation: elite Australian big business group monetises Israeli war machine
In 2020, O’Sullivan credited the AICC with building Optus’s profile and a “network of contacts with whom we could build partnerships.” Optus was quoted on the AICC website as being proud of its “deeply valued” and “long-standing relationship with the AICC”.
In 2023, Paul O’Sullivan appeared as a speaker with then AICC Chair Jillian Segal at the AICC annual Innovation Summit. Optus also shared a major session with Optus-sponsored Chair, Professor Tom Gedeon, appearing with Professor Mordechai Segev from the Technion Institute of Technology in Israel. Technion is renowned as a long-term key partner with the IDF in the development of weapons and surveillance technology.
Both ANZ and Optus are two of only three platinum sponsors listed for this year’s AICC Innovation Summit in October.
While maintaining its Platinum sponsorship of AICC, Optus is also an endorser of the UN Global Compact, with Helen Maisano, a Senior Director at Optus, sitting on the Board of Global Compact Network Australia, where businesses are committed to aligning their operations with universally accepted principles in human rights, labour and anti-corruption.
In March this year, Queensland barrister Benedict Coyne addressed a detailed human rights complaint to O’Sullivan and others, pointing out that ANZ’s continuing involvement with the AICC put it at risk of being complicit in genocide and war crimes violations.
ANZ boss Shayne Elliott challenged over Israel lobby, human rights
In a week when ANZ executive Shayne Elliot was the speaker at an AICC lunch sponsored by Optus, MWM sent questions to Paul O’Sullivan asking how he reconciled Optus’ obligations to uphold human rights with the AICC’s complicity with war crimes.
We received no response. He has again refused to answer questions about what role he had in the decision to publicly attack Professor Peter Macdonald and whether he had declared a conflict of interest.
St Vincent’s Board
Kathleen Bailey-Lord joined St Vincent’s Board in 2023. She is also a director of AMP Ltd and the Datacom group. In 2022, Bailey Lord went on an AICC mission to Israel led by Jillian Segal. Her endorsement is published on the AICC website. “In late 2022, I had the privilege of attending the Technology and Innovation trade mission led by … Jillian Segal. The range of perspectives enabled a more nuanced understanding of what Israel offers the world commercially.”
Another St Vincent’s board member is Sheila McGregor. She was a partner and is now a consultant at Gilbert & Tobin, a long-term major sponsor of the AICC. She represented the law firm at the 2023 AICC summit at which the four Platinum sponsors were Gilbert & Tobin, ANZ, Optus and KPMG.
St Vincent’s CEO Chris Blake gets involved in Israel lobby
In 2024, Chris Blake and NSW Health Secretary Susan Pearce hosted the AICC Health Innovation Program featuring contributions from Israel-based health experts, including Professor Eyal Zimlichman from the Sheba Medical Centre, who is the Founder and Director of Sheba’s ARC Innovation Program.
The Sheba Medical Centre is Israel’s largest medical facility. St Vincent’s Hospital is the only Australian hospital listed as one of its international partners.
The building of the relationship between Sheba and NSW took off in 2022 when the Director of Sheba Medical Centre, Prof. Yitshak Kreiss (who served in the IDF for 30 years), participated in an AICC event, “The Hospital of the Future”, sponsored by PwC, at which he promoted a partnership between Australia and Sheba.
Subsequently, in February 2023, the NSW Ministry of Health established a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Sheba Medical Centre. In February this year, Professor Kreiss and Professor Zimlichman met with NSW Health Minister Ryan Park to progress the Sheba relationship.
The Israeli professors then visited Melbourne, where Sheba’s first ‘ARC APAC’ conference in the Asia Pacific was held with Victorian government sponsorship. 1500 people signed a petition condemning the Victorian government for partnering with Israeli institutions and government that “stands accused of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and breaching international law and the Geneva Conventions”.
Zimlichman was a key speaker at the conference. Since Oct 7, 2023, Professor Zimlichman and his team have been fast-tracking resources for Israeli soldiers. He previously defended Israel’s role in the 2014 attack on Gaza known as Operation Protective Edge.
Other speakers at the ‘ARC APAC’ event included St Vincent’s Health CEO Blake and Associate Professor Nguyen, Deputy Director of Research at St Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne.
Curran Foundation – pro-Israel links
The fundraising aim for St Vincent’s Health Australia is the Curran Foundation. It raises money for many valuable health projects and has thousands of contributors who have no links with Israel.
One of its trustees is Belinda Hutchinson, who was until recently the Chancellor of the University of Sydney, where she came under pressure for her role as the Chair of the Australian arm of the global weapons manufacturer Thales.
Significant donors include strong pro-Israel supporters, the Stanley and Charmaine Roth Family Foundation, the Gonski Foundation (David Gonski and family), Harry Triguboff, John and Charmaine Roth and Jillian Segal. All of these were sponsors, organisers or speakers at the Combat Antisemitism Summit that was the subject of the forum at which Peter Macdonald made his 30-second comment.
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Wendy Bacon is an investigative journalist who was the Professor of Journalism at UTS. She worked for Fairfax, Channel Nine and SBS and has published in The Guardian, New Matilda, City Hub and Overland. She has a long history in promoting independent and alternative journalism.
She is a long-term supporter of a peaceful BDS and the Greens.
Cathy Peters is a former ABC RN producer/executive producer and Greens councillor on the former Marrickville Council. She also worked for a state Greens MP and is a long-time advocate for Palestinian rights. In 2014, she co-founded PSNA / BDS Australia. She has Jewish heritage, has travelled and volunteered in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.