The Board of the Greek Orthodox Community of New South Wales (GOCNSW), led by President Harry Danalis, welcomed on Tuesday, 25 March to its offices a delegation from the Hellenic Parliament consisting of MP Stavros Keletsis (New Democracy), MP Athanasios Papathanasis (New Democracy), MP Stefanos Parastatidis (PASOK – KINAL) and MP Miltiadis Zamparas (SYRIZA).
The four-member delegation was accompanied by the Consul General of Greece in Sydney, Ioannis Mallikourtis.
The President of the GOCNSW, Mr Danalis welcomed those present and referred to the benefits and services offered by the Community to the Greek diaspora, such as the Greek Festival of Sydney and the Greek Film Festival, Greek afternoon schools, a Home of the Aged Care, Social Welfare, three Childcare Centers and three churches.
The four-member delegation of the Hellenic Parliament had a constructive discussion with the members of the Board of Directors on issues concerning the diaspora and especially Culture and the Greek language.
Various issues of concern to the community and Hellenism in general were raised with the representatives of the Hellenic Parliament, such as the issue of education and preservation of the Greek language, the sending of teachers from Greece, the sending of a theatrical group from Greece for a Greek Festival and various others.
The meeting ended with the promise that all the issues discussed would be raised in the Hellenic Parliament.