Ladies Who Rambam

While M'Lord Turnbull is swanning around Australia in hard hat and fluoro-vest, singing the praises of Jobson Grothe, M'Lady Lucinda and her set have also been busy:

"Some of Australia's most prominent business women including company directors Lucy Turnbull and Broadspectrum chair Diane Smith-Gander* head off this week for a trip to look at upstart start-up culture in Israel. The group of 35 senior businesswomen which also includes Jillian Segal, Fiona Balfour, Karen Penrose, Alison Deans and Sydney University chancellor Belinda Hutchinson marks the first time the Australia Israel Chamber of Commerce has hosted a women's business delegation to the country, which is recognised as one of the world's leaders in encouraging start-up technology companies." (Women discover Israel's start-up culture, Glenda Korporaal, The Australian, 9/5/16)

How could they possibly resist? After all, Israel whisperer Jillian Segal, NSW chair of the Australia Israel Chamber of Commerce, director of the National Australia Bank, deputy chancellor of the University of NSW and chair of the Sir John Monash Foundation, had been cooing the following lines into their shell pinks:

"There is an enormous amount of interest in the business community here learning what we can from the remarkable situation which exists today in Israel. The country has reinvented itself as 'the start-up nation'. It has more start-ups per head than the US. It is a small country of 8 million people, the size of NSW, and everybody wants to be an entrepreneur. We have to learn to understand the ecosystem and what goes into making an innovation culture. [The visit was about] smart women looking for smart ideas from a smart country'."

Just so you know that a good time was had by M'Lady Lucinda & all take a gander at some of Smith-Gander's tweets:

*May 15 women trade leaders w @NirBarkat father of 3 daughters in the IDF inspiring leader@AICC NSW #ausisraelinnovation

*May 16 Israel small nation in problematic geography so army not focused on spit & polish - startup nation recipe@AICC NSW #ausisraelinnovation

*May 16 Why is Israel smart? "you get the oppty to make decisions in the army long be4 u decide to dye your hair pink" Fiona Darmon JVP @AICC NSW

*May 16 All jobs in the Israeli defence force are important. But it will be empowering if women do the more important roles@AICC_NSW#ausisraelinnovation

*May 16 Diversity rules in Israel startup nation recipe@AICC_NSW:

Israeli Landscape of Entrepreneurship

*Diversity=Extraordinary Human Capital
*Entrepreneurial DNA
*Military
Thought Process; Groundbreaking Technologies
*Global from Day 1

*RT: Swaab Attorneys May 18 Brand of a city is to capture the life of the city@AICC_NSW#ausisraelinnovation:

'Mediterranean Capital of Cool' The New York Times
1,748 bars, cafes and nightclubs
1 for every 231 residents
Tel Aviv Nonstop City

Well, Lady Di's obviously blown away by Israel. But then so too the Palestinians - for almost 7 decades now.

[*"Broadspectrum chairwoman Diane Smith-Gander has revealed the refugee camp operator's most senior personnel keep track of activists and proxy advisers by monitoring their Facebook and Twitter profiles. The company, formerly named Transfield Services, has turned to social media surveillance to help it cope with protests over claims of human rights abuses inside the government's offshore asylum seeker processing centres on Nauru and Manus Island that the company has a critical $2.2 billion contract to operate." (Broadspectrum's Diane Smith-Gander eyes protesters via Facebook & Twitter, Sally Rose, Sydney Morning Herald, 2/12/15)]