Victorian Parliament was required to select a new member to fill the vacancy caused by Thornley's resignation. It was the first casual vacancy to occur since the reform of the Legislative Council in 2006. Under the new rules, which mirror those of the Australian Senate, if the vacating MLC had been elected as a member of a political party, the joint sitting must select a person nominated by that political party. On 30 January 2009, it was announced that Melbourne lawyer Jennifer Huppert had been nominated by the ALP to fill the upper house vacancy. Post-political career Having served as the Australian head of Better Place since his resignation from parliament, Thornley was elevated to global CEO of the company following the sacking, in October 2012, of its founder and major spokesperson Shai Agassi. However, Thornley severed his connection with Better Place only three months later. In January 2014, he became executive chair of Same Business Different Outcome (SBDO), a private equity firm. He is now executive chair of LongView, a property management company. Connection to Israel, Judaism Thornley first went to Israel on a Young Political Leaders' Tour while at University and was part of a pro-Israel group humorously dubbed "the Mossad faction". He led an Australia Israel Chamber of Commerce trade mission to Israel in 2008 and has been a delegate to the Australia Israel Leadership Forum several times. He was Secretary of the Parliamentary Friends of Israel and visited Israel over 30 times during his tenure at Better Place. He was a member of the strategic review panel for the Rabbinical Council of Victoria. Thornley began a formal process of converting to Judaism in 2012 under Rabbi Adam Stein at Kehilat Nitzan, Melbourne's only Conservative synagogue. Thornley formally completed the conversion process on 19 August 2014 and adopted the Hebrew name of "Lev Yonatan". References External links Scotch College profile 1965 births Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Victoria Businesspeople from Melbourne Living people McKinsey & Company people Members of the Victorian Legislative Council People educated at Scotch College, Melbourne Politicians from Melbourne Melbourne Law School alumni 21st-century Australian politicians Converts to Judaism Australian Jews