Peter Ppiros, the newly elected President of the Greek Orthodox Community of South Australia (GOCSA), brings a wealth of experience to his role.
Born in Cyprus, Ppiros migrated to Australia as a refugee and has been an active member of GOCSA since 1986, dedicating a decade to various Administrative Council positions.
His recent election victory, where his Independent Community Progressive Party secured 11 out of 15 council seats, comes amid ongoing discussions about the direction of GOCSA, including matters of governance, unity and cultural preservation.
In an exclusive interview, Ppiros discusses his plans for GOCSA, including balancing Greek heritage with evolving Australian identities, increasing youth engagement, and addressing key structural and administrative challenges. He also shares his thoughts on the role of language retention, the importance of a bilingual administration, and how he intends to navigate differing views within the community.
Thank you for your time today, Peter. With the evolving identity of 3rd and 4th generation Greek Australians, how do you plan to balance the preservation of Greek heritage, language, and culture with the integration of contemporary Australian values?
That is a continuing challenge that we face and we will use both traditional methods that have served us well including to introduce innovative E-technology.
There has been a large emphasis and growth of youth engagement over the past two years in your community. Are there any specific initiatives you plan to implement to ensure that GOCSA continues to engage with and inspire our younger generation? How will you encourage them to become more involved in the decision-making processes that affect their future?
Involvement in GOCSA also requires accepting responsibility from conceptual development through to implementation and reassessment.
You have highlighted the importance of being a bi-lingual administration and the importance of language retention and learning. What is your plan to further promote the learning of the Greek language and to make it more accessible?
GOCSA adheres to the present day Australian multicultural values that will need to be reworked to fit into our evolving 21 century society.
You have publicly stated that you need to rebuild the unity of the Community; given that 61% of your members voted at an Extraordinary General Meeting in favour of a resolution to have the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia provide ecclesiastical coverage, how do you intend to unite your own community whilst a majority of members want something that does not necessarily align with your own views of an independent church?
GOCSA is bound to follow the members’ decisions taken at various Special General Meetings e.g. 1966, 1972, 1973 and 1992. That being said, we are also listening to our members every day and noting their steadfast support and attendances at our Churches. Members have an expectation for a consistent application of GOCSA’s past General Meeting decisions that cannot be changed on a whim contrary to GOCSA’s Constitution which is the law the Council is legally obliged to follow.
As a new Administrative Committee, only in our role for the last month, we will continue to discuss and formulate precise strategies in each of the important areas of activity. At the moment, the focus is on getting an understanding of the management and operation of the many diverse activities of GOCSA and the key and immediate priority issues we need to address to ensure our Community continues to function well and deliver high-quality services.
I would like to stress that any future decisions, and strategies on all sectors of GOCSA, will be discussed at future direct consultation with our members.
The Autocephalic Greek Orthodox Church has been without any spiritual Head for over five years; Is there a plan to address this? How will you ensure regular functioning of the Community churches?
GOCSA remains committed to implementing GOCSA’s past determination of allegiance to the AGOCAA (Autocephalic Greek Orthodox Church) and recognise the challenges; as we also recognise the Australian Constitution provides for freedom of religion and recognition of the AGOCAA under Australian laws.
You have said that you will revive/reactivate the Federation of Greek Orthodox Communities. How will you do this and how will this benefit the Greek Orthodox Community of SA?
GOCSA has always maintained that it will benefit the whole of the Greek community of Australia to have an assertive collective voice addressing the wide range of secular issues; and taking into account the erosion of our multicultural society, updating the Australia-Greece Bi-Lateral Agreements plus mutual recognition of our secular laws. The Australian Government is currently being deprived of the collective wisdom of the Greek Community speaking with one voice-state representation. There is no substitute for a concerted group submission, e.g. for an annual update of topical issues concerning our Community as a whole.
What do you believe to be the biggest challenge for you as the new President of the Community?
The challenge is to have an Administrative Council that takes the leadership responsibility (including myself as a Councillor) rather than leaving responsibility to a few Councillors. That also aims to address the issue of unity within GOCSA i.e. “practice what the Council is doing as a team.”
