Robert Goot - World Jewish Congress

Robert Goot

Co-Chair of the WJC Policy Council

Mr. Robert M. Goot AO SC is Co-Chair of the WJC Policy Council and Member of the WJC Steering Committee since 2015. He also currently serves as Chair of the WJC Credentials Commission and is a member of the WJC Budget & Finance Commission. He has been extremely active in WJC affairs since first being elected as a member of the WJC Executive Committee & WJC Vice President in January 2009. He previously served as Chair of the WJC Resolutions Committee and also served on the WJC Constitutional Review Committee in 2009 and 2017.

Mr. Goot has had a very active involvement in the formulation and implementation of WJC policy including through its Resolutions Committee and the Strategic Policy Review undertaken by WJC staff following the decision of the Executive Committee in 2019.

He also currently serves as Deputy President of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), the elected representative organization of the Australian Jewish community, having been ECAJ President from 2007 to 2010 and from 2014 to 2018. In addition, he is currently active as an Hon. Life Member of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies (since 1986) and a Life Patron and Chairman of Trustees of Moriah College (since 1999) and for many years has been an actively involved in the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, where he is currently a member of the Board of Directors and a member of the Allocations Committee.

Over the last 55 years, he has held a number of other leadership positions in the Australian Jewish community, including: Secretary of the Hillel Foundation (1965-1972); Chairman of the Australian Campaign for the Rescue of Australian Jewry (1972-1980); Hon. Secretary and Vice President of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies (1972-1980); President of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies (1978-1982); ECAJ Hon. Secretary (1972-1974); ECAJ Vice President (1978-1982); Vice President of Moriah College (1986-1987); ECAJ Hon. Secretary (1986-1987); President of Moriah College (1989-1996); and President of Sydney Jewish Museum (1996-2000).

In 1988 he was awarded Membership of the Order of Australia for services to the Jewish Community.

In 1994 he was awarded the Jewish Community Services: Communal Leadership Award and Outstanding Jew Award.

In January 2020 he was decorated as an ‘Officer of the Order of Australia’ for distinguished service to the Jewish community through executive roles with educational, cultural and social welfare bodies.

Mr. Goot is a barrister practicing at the New South Wales Bar and was appointed as Senior Counsel in 2000.