Dinner Date

We reckon there are few lawyers in Australia as well connected as the father-son duo Mark and Jeremy Leibler of Arnold Bloch Leibler fame.

Mark, after all, is nicknamed The Powerbroker, a moniker that is hardly in jest. The firm’s 70th anniversary bash in Melbourne last year drew a veritable who’s who of the nation’s political and business elite, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese giving a speech as guest of honour.

Meanwhile, Jeremy, who runs the Zionist Federation of Australia, led a delegation to Israel this year that included former Victorian premier Dan Andrews and Liberal senator Dave Sharma, as CBD reported.

It’s no surprise then that the pair scored a private dinner with Albo at The Lodge in June, documents released under freedom of information confirm, although sadly neither party would enlighten us on the menu or the topics of discussion.

But Leibler snr seems to take a fairly ordinary view of politicians, telling The Age last year: ‘‘The one consistent stream which runs through what politicians do and say is the desire to remain in power, which means winning elections, at all costs. And very often the loser in all of this is principles.’’

So we can’t imagine him being too awestruck by a date at The Lodge. But we doubt he repeated such sentiments to Albo’s face. He’s far too charming for that.