# Jillian Segal

Jillian Shirley Segal AO is an Australian lawyer and business executive and Australia's Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism. She is known for her contributions on the boards of government, commercial and non-profit organisations.

## Early life and education

Segal was born in Johannesburg. She is Jewish. Moving to Sydney, she completed her education at Kambala School in 1973. She then graduated from the University of New South Wales with a BA/LLB and won the University Medal in Law in 1979. Segal received an LLM from Harvard Law School.

## Career

Segal's first job was associate to Sir Anthony Mason, judge in the High Court of Australia. She joined Allen, Allen and Hemsley as a senior associate and was promoted to partner, before leaving to serve as a commissioner and subsequently deputy chair of the Australian Securities & Investments Commission.
From 2003 to 2015 she was on the board of the Australian Securities Exchange and from 2004 to 2016 on the board of the National Australia Bank. She served on the Council of the Australian War Memorial from 2014 to 2017 and was deputy chancellor of the University of New South Wales from 2010 to 2019.
Since 2008 Segal has been chairman of the General Sir John Monash Foundation that administers the John Monash Scholarships. She has served on the board of the Sydney Opera House Trust since 2014.
Segal was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in the 2005 Queen's Birthday Honours for "service to business law in Australia, particularly in the areas of financial services reform and market regulation, and to the community through a range of organisations". She was promoted to Officer of the Order of Australia in the 2019 Australia Day Honours for "distinguished service to the banking and financial regulation sectors, to not-for-profit organisations, and to women".
As of 2022 Segal is a community representative on the Council for the Order of Australia. She has been a board member of the Garvan Institute since 2009. She is also the immediate past president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ).
On 11 October 2023 in a rally for Israel vigil after 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, Segal, then President of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, said "Our world has changed, the barbarians have breached the gates,"

### Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism

On 9 July 2024, Segal was appointed for a term of three years Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism in Australia to the Australian Government by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. The appointment came after campaigning by Jewish communal organisations to create a position to fight the rise in antisemitism post 7 October 2023. Segal's appointment was praised by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, the representative body of Australian Jewry, and received support from the federal Coalition. The Jewish Council of Australia, a community group formed in February 2024 critical of the State of Israel, opposed Segal's appointment. Segal's statements and positions on antisemitism in Australia include the view that antisemitism at universities had become 'systemic'. In January 2025, Segal criticised lenient sentencing for antisemitic offenses as a factor undermining efforts to address hate crimes against the Australian Jewish community, and called for mandatory sentencing for individuals attacking synagogues. Following an increase in attacks on synagogues and Jewish homes in the prior months, Segal called on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and state premiers to convene a national cabinet meeting. She argued that urgent action is required to implement tougher sentencing guidelines and ensure more consistent prosecution of antisemitic hate crimes. In response, Anthony Albanese rejected both of Segal's requests, and stated that sentencing should be left to judges and that he would not need to convene a national cabinet as he discussed the matter with the premiers of Victoria and New South Wales.