Greek Australian Andriana Christopoulos along with 14 members-representatives of South Australia’s multicultural communities have been appointed to serve on the state’s Multicultural and Ethnic Affairs Commission (SAMEAC) for the period of 1 July 2021 until 30 June 2024.
“My Assistant Minister, Jing Lee and I are delighted to announce the new appointees to the Commission,” said Premier Steven Marshall.
Coming from a migrant background, Ms Christopoulos -whose family migrated to Australia from Kalamata nearly six decades ago- told The Greek Herald she’s “delighted” to have been appointed to lead the Commission.
“I am really honoured. I already do a lot of work with multicultural communities and I have established good relationships with some of them, I want to do more and serve the communities to the best of my ability,” said Ms Christopoulos.
“We’ve got 11 new faces on the board with new voices and this is going to add so much value,” Ms Christopoulos said.
Among the new board members is also Ms Eugenia Tsoulis OAM, Chief Executive Officer of the state’s Australian Migrant Resource Centre (AMRC) who has over 40 years of work experience focused on multicultural policy research and has held leadership positions in the mental health, education, arts, and employment and training sectors.
Asked about the Commission’s immediate priorities, Christopoulos said that the Multicultural Bill is currently in the Upper House for debate and “hopefully it will be passed” to allow for a “more modernised SAMEAC Act.”
“I think the first six to twelve months will be focused on developing that Charter and working with the communities to make themselves familiar with other communities.
“We’ve been using the Act for the last 30 years and this is an opportunity for the Government to modernise the Act and the process the Commission work with,” Ms Christopoulos said.
The newly appointed Chair also endeavours to foster intercultural communication and promote relations across SA’s different cultures and social groups.
“We want some of the established communities like the Greek, the Italian and some of the northern European communities who have been in South Australia for a long time, to assist new and emerging communities, strengthen their bonds and part their experience and their knowledge,” Ms Christopoulos said.
Full membership of the Commission is as follows: Ms Adriana Christopoulos (Chair), Ms Anna Cheung, Mr George Chin, Mr Bruce Djite, Ms Carmen Garcia, Ms Manju Khadka, Cav. Maria Maglieri, Mr Rajendra Pandey, Ms Shaza Ravaji, Mr Hussain Razaiat, Mr Reinhard Struve, Ms Khuyen (Quin) Tran, Ms Eugenia Tsoulis OAM, Mr Denis Yengi and Mr Ahmed Zreika.
.){kind=link}