A young couple whose illegal lockdown engagement party shocked Melbourne are the children of a prominent psychologist and a cancer specialist doctor.
Six people have now tested positive after the get-together to celebrate Michal Franck and Yoni Rubin’s upcoming marriage, and authorities fear it could become a superspreader event.
Video of the party shows the fathers of the Melbourne pair packed inside a narrow room during the event in city’s south-east on Wednesday.
Michal’s father Dr Mark Franck, 52, is a skin cancer expert with offices in Windsor, while law student Yoni’s father is Kalman Rubin, 68, a Victoria Legal Aid chairman and celebrated psychologist, Daily Mail Australia can reveal.
The couple and their families were bombarded with abuse after Victorian Premier Dan Andrews slammed them for their ‘selfish choices’ during his Covid press conference on Monday, and have now ‘gone to ground’ according to family friends.
The party was also condemned by St Kilda Rabbi Ronnie Figdor, who said the couple ‘should have known better’ and his community was upset and disappointed.
Michal Franck (left) and Yoni Rubin (right) sparked outrage after hosting an engagement party for 69 people inside a Melbourne home in direct breach of the city’s lockdown rules. Six people who attended have since tested positive to Covid
Law student Yoni’s father is Kalman Rubin, 68, a Victoria Legal Aid chairman and celebrated psychologist while his mother Timmy (together left, and right at engagement party) runs a ritual bathhouse for married Jewish women
Now the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency has launched an investigation, with the power to suspend the licences of negligent medics.
‘We are aware that Victoria Police have stated that they intend to take action with respect to individuals who attended the event,’ said an APHRA spokesperson.
‘We will liaise with them in relation to any registered health practitioners who were present.’
Dr Franck and his photographer wife Chana, 49, were both present at the party along with almost 70 other guests in Caulfield North last week.
In video footage from the night, guests can be seen crammed into a small room as Yoni Rubin mocked the lockdown laws they were flouting.
The groom-to-be is seen in the clip bragging about the party’s shady status.
‘Clearly this is legal because this is a group therapy session,’ the part-time teacher jokes, standing next to his bride-to-be as the packed room erupts in laughter.
‘That’s why my father’s here!’
One of the revellers shouts: ‘He’s a mental health clinician!’
The groom-to-be mocked Victoria’s lockdown laws, saying: ‘Clearly this is legal because this is a group therapy session’. He then pointed out his father, who is a psychologist, as another reveller jeered ‘he’s a mental health clinician’
Michal’s father Dr Mark Franck (above), 52, is a skin cancer expert with offices in Windsor. He laughed as his future son-in-law made a joke about Victoria’s lockdown
Dr Franck stands nearby leaning against a wall during the wisecracks, before the camera swings round to show Mr Rubin and his wife Tamara, known as Timmy, 65, laughing along with other guests.
Ms Rubin is a prison chaplain and runs Melbourne’s main mikvah, a ritual bathhouse for married Jewish women.
Police have now vowed to trace every one of the guests and fine them $5,000 each for flouting Melbourne’s strict lockdown laws.
Chief Commissioner Shane Patton warned the final bill would come in at around $350,000. Further charges have not yet been ruled out.
The families are said to be distraught over the backlash from the public over the party.
‘We did wrong but the hate coming our way is just so mean,’ Ms Rubin begged, according to the Herald Sun.
‘Look into your heart and try to find forgiveness.’
Victorian Premier Dan Andrews said the families had made ‘selfish, s***ty choices’ to host the celebration in lockdown, but slammed anti-Semitic attacks directed at them.
‘Anti-Semitism is unacceptable and evil,’ he said. ‘We have a zero tolerance approach to that in our state.
‘There’s no sense that anyone needs to be harassing anybody and there is never, ever, a place in Victoria for anti-Semitic behaviour or language, it’s simply evil.
‘We called out some bad behaviour yesterday, we didn’t call out a community, because that would be simply unfair and wrong.
St Kilda Rabbi Ronnie Figdor admitted the couple, who have since gone to ground, ‘should have known better’
Rabbi Ronnie Figdor, CEO of the nearby St Kilda Hebrew Congregation, said his offices had also received furious phone calls about the party.
‘This unfortunately has a big impact and that’s what upsets me and many others,’ he said. ‘They should have known better.
‘Dr Franck is no doubt a very good doctor. but I’m not sure I would ask his advice about Covid.
‘We are one big Jewish family, so we’re embarrassed when something like this happens, whether we personally know them or not.
‘Are we disappointed? Yes. This was a wake up call. People become a bit cavalier because you think it’s not going to affect you. Well, good morning, it does.’
He said he always warned people to behave as if their actions could end up on the front page of a newspaper.
‘Unfortunately in this case, it is on the front page of the paper,’ he said. ‘I’m one of these goody two shoes – if I’m told to do something I just do it.
‘I suspect that a week ago, had they known that this would be the outcome of their actions, they wouldn’t have acted that way. We’re all wiser after the event.
‘What we can expect now is a sincere apology and a commitment to do better.’
St Kilda federal MP Josh Burns added: ‘The reports and footage of gatherings that we have seen over the weekend is deeply disappointing.
‘It is completely unfair to everyone who has done the right thing. Those who have done the wrong thing will be dealt with by authorities and rightly suffer the legal consequences.’
Daily Mail Australia has sought comment from the parents.