Accounting for human rights
DEBORAH BLASHKI-MARKS INTERVIEWS ACCOUNTANT BERNARD MARIN
I HAVE always seen my career beyond numbers. As the managing partner of one of Melbourne’s leading accounting practices, my career has taken me down many interesting paths and entails much more than examining the bottom line of a business! Many in the Jewish community may know me as the face of Marin Accountants, a business I established in 1981.
Marin Accountants services many household-named businesses and clients, as well as Federal Court judges, barristers and doctors. I am proud of this success, but prouder of the services I have been able to offer the community, especially in the area of civil liberties and human rights.
I dedicate half-a-day of my working week to community work and it is this work, alongside my accounting and business activities, that I consider the cornerstone of my career.In 1989, the late Ron Castan AM QC and I established the Alan Missen Foundation. Ron and I were very clear about our mission when we set up the foundation, named after Alan Missen, a Liberal Senator who was sympathetic to civil liberties and rights. My passion has always been the pursuance of human rights and the foundation is proactive in reaching out to young Australians. Every year the foundation offers prizes to each university faculty for the best human rights and civil liberty essay written by a student.
I see this work as an invaluable asset in the community -— encouraging our youth to realise the value of human rights and civil liberties within their immediate lives and those people around them. My personal interest in this area has also led to my involvement with Liberty Victoria and the Koorie Heritage Trust as its treasurer, a role I have held for eight years. I see many similarities between the indigenous Australian experience and the Jewish experience, and the trust is a way for me to foster this belief and offer professional help.
The goal of the trust is to build a bridge between Koorie and non-Koorie communities and encourage white Australians to build respect for indigenous Australians, their communities and their culture. I strongly believe in this philosophy and the work of the Koorie Heritage Trust. In any one year, the trust runs up to 25 different community programs. One program that I have been actively involved with is the Stolen Generation program, which is similar to the Shoah program established for Jewish people.
The trust has established the largest database of the stolen generation in Australia it records their stories and helps them connect with their dislocated family. I have also personally been involved with the Cadetship Program run by the Koorie Heritage Trust. At present, the trust has four cadetships.
Typically, these entail young Aboriginal students attending university for a few days each week and working at the trust for the balance of the week (fully-funded by patrons of the trust). As a result of this program, the trust will produce the first fully qualified Koorie art curator in Australia. Another area that has provided a balance in my professional life is writing.
I am an avid writer and proudly published a memoir entitled My Father, My Father in 2002 and a short story entitled Skeletons Under the Shabbat Table in 2005. I am also on the board, as treasurer, of the Melbourne Writers Festival. Perhaps my proudest moment of my professional career was becoming a Member of the Order of Australia in 2008. This was awarded for my services to accountancy and to the community, particularly through my association with civil liberty, human rights and charitable organisations.
I am continuing my community work and have recently been appointed to the advisory board of the Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation and the board of the Melbourne Community Foundation. I believe that my accounting skills and career have offered assistance to the community and I like to think of myself as an accountant who offers more than just numbers!
CV Highlights
1969: Graduated Melbourne High School.
1981: Established the accounting practice of Marin Accountants.
1985: Appointed to the board of Liberty Victoria.
1989: Established the Alan Missen Foundation with the late Ron Castan AM QC to disseminate civil liberties and human rights throughout Australia.
2000: Appointed treasurer of the Koorie Heritage Trust.
2002: Published memoir titled My Father, My Father.
2005: Appointed treasurer of the Melbourne Writers Festival.
2008: Became a Member of the Order of Australia for services to accountancy and to the community, particularly through a range of civil liberty and human rights and charitable organisations.
2009: Appointed to the advisory board of the Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation and the Melbourne Community Foundation.
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