A rich platform of bilateral agreements and cultural programs formed the basis of the meeting between the President of the Greek Community of Melbourne (GCM), Bill Papastergiadis OAM, and Greece’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Giorgos Kotsiras.
The Deputy Foreign Minister also pledged to visit Australia in the very near future.
In one of his first meetings with representatives of the diaspora after being sworn in as a Minister, Mr Papastergiadis raised a number of issues with Mr Kotsiras as formulated by the GCM Board. Also in attendance was the General Secretary for Greeks Abroad, John Chrysoulakis.
Key issues that were discussed included the finalisation of bilateral agreements, cultural and sporting exchanges, as well as educational programs for students and the teaching cohort.
In particular, reference was made for the need for a bilateral Health Agreement. It was noted that this Agreement will need significant pressure from Greece given the current reticence of the Australian Government on this matter. On the issue of Agreements, it was emphasised that the Double Taxation Agreement should also be finalised in the next few months.
Mr Kotsiras (left) with Bill Papastergiadis.
Mr Papastergiadis noted that the recent University agreement facilitated by the GCM at the recent Hellenic Medical Conference hosted at the Greek Centre in Melbourne has produced great results. At the conference, the Universities of Melbourne and Athens and Patras executed an agreement for the facilitation of medical student and professorial exchanges of the medical faculties.
In a conversation with the Dean of the Medical Faculty of Patras University, Professor Antoniadis confirmed that medical students from Australia would soon be attending Patras Medical School. Mr Papastergiadis then suggested that this Agreement now needs to be expanded into other faculties particularly the Humanities Faculties.
Mr Chrysoulakis noted how the current student cultural tour of Greece funded by the GCM and the Greek Foreign Ministry was a resounding success, and it was agreed that this would be pursued into the years to come.
Other issues discussed was the need for more staff at the consulate, a continuation of art exchanges between the two countries with a particular focus on residencies for artists.
On the issue of the vote for the diaspora, the abolition of the current restrictions was raised, as well as the need for the postal vote given the distances in the diaspora for citizens to vote at the consulate offices.
It was agreed that these matters would be confirmed by the GCM Board in writing and would be followed up.
A Greek Orthodox priest from Sydney has denied allegations he sexually touched a number of women from one family, The Australian has reported.
Father Mario “George” Fayjloun was connected to the Central Mangrove Greek Orthodox congregation, and was charged in September 2021 with nine counts of aggravated sexual touching. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.
His case was before Liverpool Local Court on Monday.
Father Mario “George” Fayjloun. Photo: The Australian.
The court heard that Father Fayjloun allegedly made home visits to the family in Sydney, when he made unwanted sexual advances towards the mother and two of her children.
Father Fayjloun’s barrister Clive Steirn SC told the court the priest denies the allegations and claims the sexual touching between him and the mother was consensual.
Mr Steirn said defence would argue the daughters “fabricated allegations” to protect their mother.
Father Fayjloun’s hearing will run until Wednesday, July 12.
According to ABC News, Australia and Europe will likely both have to give ground on contentious names such as prosecco and feta if long-running negotiations on a trade deal that may be worth almost $100 billion is to be realised.
There are hundreds of products on the list of protected names however a handful are the main concern for EU, with suggestions EU could accept “Australian prosecco” or “Australian feta” if it has not already been offered in other trade deals.
Trade Minister Don Farrell is looking to do a free trade agreement with the European Union. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen.
This news comes as Trade Minister Don Farrell began the first of two days of talks in Brussels in a bid to broker an agreement with the EU.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Australia will not sign a free trade deal “for the sake of it,” and stressed that the EU will need to offer Australian agricultural producers a fair deal before an agreement can be made.
The bill is formally named “Revoking restrictions for the registration in special voter registration lists of voters living abroad.”
The Greek government said the purpose of the bill is to provide equal treatment to all Greek voters, particularly those living abroad or travelling abroad on the day of elections.
Interior Minister Niki Kerameus. Photo: Ekathimerini.
Greek Interior Minister Niki Kerameus said: “Diaspora Greeks are the soul and voice of Greece abroad. It is our duty to facilitate the exercise of their constitutionally established right to vote.”
The bill will be available for public consultation until 8am on Monday, July 17. The content of the bill is posted on the following website (in Greek): opengov.gr
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has agreed to back Sweden’s bid to join the NATO military alliance at a meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania on Monday.
Speaking on the eve of the Summit, NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said Erdogan “agreed to forward the accession protocol for Sweden to the grand national assembly as soon as possible, and work closely with the assembly to ensure ratification.”
Stoltenberg declined to give a date for when Sweden’s accession would be ratified by the Turkish parliament.
(L) Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and (R) President Joe Biden at NATO Summit, Vilnius. Photo: Daily Sabah.
“Turkey is looking to modernise F16 aircraft. And (Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos) Mitsotakis in Greece is also looking for some help,” Biden told CNN.
“So what I’m trying to do honestly is to achieve a consortium where we strengthen NATO in terms of the military capability of both Greece and Turkey to allow Sweden to join the Alliance.”
The deal was on the condition the jets could not be used to threaten Greece in its ongoing maritime waters dispute with Turkey in the Aegean Sea.
Unheralded American player Christopher Eubanks has stunned Wimbledon, beating fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in a five-set thriller to reach the quarter-finals.
Eubanks overpowered Tsitsipas on No 2 Court, winning 3-6, 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. But Tsitsipas made it no easy feat for Eubanks, eventually tiring out after the three hour battle.
“It’s like I’m living the dream right now,” Eurobanks said after the match. “This is absolutely insane.”
Dancers with Christos Shakallis (centre). All photos copyright The Greek Herald.Sophia Ventouris (left) with Christos Shakallis (right).Young dancers.Dance teachers with Shakallis.Everyone enjoyed themselves on the night.
On Saturday, July 8, the festival held a Zeibekiko Dance Spectacular Show starring international guest and Greek master of Zeibekiko dance, Christos Shakallis, along with local Greek dance groups.
The event, which was held at the Greek Community Club in Lakemba, saw youth join Shakallis on the dance floor to perform some of the greatest Greek cinema Zeibekiko music and song hits.
One of the last things a traveller from Australia would expect to see when they visit the Greek island of Lesvos is a 2023 election campaign poster for the NSW Minister for Industrial Relations and Member for Canterbury, Sophie Cotsis MP.
But that’s exactly what author and Ms Cotsis’ brother, Billy Cotsis, saw when he visited the local historian’s office in the Lesvian village of Skoutaros and met with Mr Giannis.
Mr Giannis was the Skoutaros village tailor but has since retired and now spends most of his days compiling log books of well-known politicians, doctors and lawyers from the Lesvian diaspora around the world.
Things collected by Mr Giannis.Photos supplied.
“Mr Giannis, and I don’t know his surname even though I’ve known him since I was a kid, is fascinated with how our village produces so many good people,” Billy tells The Greek Herald.
“We had one man who owned first division football team Kalloni FC and a number of people who did well in business in Australia. Even the first White House chief of staff… for Trump, Reinhold Richard Priebus, was of part Lesvos heritage and he may even have blood from my region in Lesvos.”
Alongside these influential Lesvians, a book by Billy titled ‘From Pyrrhus to Cyprus’ can be found amongst Mr Giannis’ collectables.
(L) Bill Cotsis’ book. (R) Sophie Cotsis MP election poster. Photos supplied.
The NSW Labor election poster for Ms Cotsis has also been in Mr Giannis’ office for at least 12 years, despite him never having visited Australia.
Battle lines over the proposed heritage listing of the St George Greek Orthodox Church in Rose Bay, Sydney have been drawn.
But in a strange twist, it is the church itself that is resisting the inclusion of the 60-year-old building and war memorial complex in Woollahra Council’s proposal to list a number of local religious sites for heritage protection.
The matter recently came before the Council’s Environmental Planning Committee and was deferred to a full Council meeting tonight (July 10) in response to a request by the church leadership that any heritage decision be deferred until after a site inspection is completed by both Councillors and council staff.
The background to this stoush was explored by The Greek Herald in a detailed opinion piece written by a cultural heritage consultant and former President of the Kytherian Association of Australia, George Vardas, in response to a heritage assessment produced by the church seeking to downplay the heritage and historical significance of the building and its setting.
St George Rose Bay this year.
On March 27, 2023, Woollahra Council had resolved that the heritage significance of St George Greek Orthodox Church at Rose Bay be further investigated and for community engagement to take place. Council sought submissions from the public in a strategy involving both local print media and social media.
This resulted in a number of written submissions both for and against the proposed heritage listing and a group submission (via an online petition) orchestrated by the church bearing more than 1,000 signatories.
The Church committee’s social media link to that petition was prefaced by the question: “Would you like your home to be saddled with a heritage listing?”. Some members of the Environmental Planning Committee appeared to find this surprising given that in its petition, the Church acknowledged that the Council was undertaking community engagement seeking feedback on the proposed heritage listing. In his submission to the Committee, the Parish Priest Father Gerasimos explained that this was a social media ploy to attract attention to the online petition and hopefully gain support.
Mixed Greek community views towards heritage listing:
Signatories to the online petition include some well-known local Greek Australian identities such as James Stevens of Roses Only, Dr Jim Aroney and the artist Felicia Aroney.
James Athanasou, although signing the petition, wrote that the church of St George is “a unique architectural component of Rose Bay” that has created “a special multicultural expression with immense historical significance to the Greek Australian community.”
The former Mayor of Woollahra, John Comino, posted that the Church does not fit the “classic design of Byzantine Architecture which is traditional to Greek Orthodox Churches” and that to heritage list it would be “incongruous as further works to enlarge the Church for a growing Congregation and its Community activities are in the planning stages.”
On the other hand, the Secretary of the Joint Committee for the Commemoration of the Battle of Crete and Greek Campaign, Nick Andriotakis – who is also a prominent property developer and parishioner of the church – has weighed into the debate.
Andriotakis noted that the Church is identified in The Australian War Memorial places of pride and is also registered on the New South Wales State War Memorial register.
The church has been declared a war memorial.
According to Andriotakis: “St George Greek Orthodox church was created by a Greek Australian community, some of which came pre-WWII and others post WWII… From the Flemish blond face brickwork topped by the bright white belltower to the clean interior, the building is a fusion of Greek Australian building elements reflecting a modern society.”
Andriotakis also wrote that the parish committee’s opposition to the heritage listing was made without consultation to its members and the petition seeking opposition to the heritage listing “has been circulated electronically all over Sydney containing a negative argument against heritage without outlining the alternative positive heritage listing benefits.”
Parish board divided:
Opinion within the Parish Board itself also appears to be divided. On the one hand, directors including Dean Haritos, John Barbouttis and Spero Raissis are opposed to the proposed heritage listing. Haritos wrote that a heritage listing restricts the ability of the church to evolve to meet the needs of the community without providing any specific reasons.
On the other hand, Rozy Dorizas, long-standing member of the parish and currently the Parish Board’s Secretary, submitted that in architectural and aesthetic terms the St George Church at Rose Bay is “one of the most elegant and majestic Greek Orthodox places of worship in New South Wales,” but expressed concern about “tasteless ornate additions” and about what she described as proposals to change the internal configuration of the church together with repainting both the interior and exterior and removing timber paneling.
What’s next?
Another supporter of the proposed heritage listing is the Woollahra History and Heritage Society which made a detailed submission. The Society disagrees with the heritage consultant engaged by the parish and states that it failed to properly understand the commemorative role of the ANZAC plaque set into the very fabric of the church in a prominent position, which serves as a “a day-to-day reminder of the sacrifice of those who died in for him the church was originally constructed.”
The Society also submitted that the Greek parish appears to misunderstand the role of heritage listing because heritage listing does not fossilise the site, but provides a framework for alterations and adaptive reuses which protected the church’s significance for future generations.
In its written submission, the Parish Council maintains that the community feeling of belonging and the formation of lifelong friendships is intangible and cannot be heritage listed. It also claims that many of the original features of the church building have gone, with improvements having been made over the years, including new entry steps, doors, floors, windows and lighting as well as an entirely modified community hall.
Interior of St George Rose Bay.
The church parish claims that it is on a growth trajectory and points to an existing development consent obtained in 2011 for the redevelopment of the adjoining properties in the church’s portfolio.
In response, the Woollahra Council staff maintain the recommendation that a planning proposal to list the St George Greek Orthodox Church in Rose Bay as a local heritage item should proceed, noting that a comprehensively researched Heritage Study had been undertaken to assess the heritage significance of the Church in accordance with best practice conservation methods and Heritage NSW guidelines.
It emphasises that age is not the only defining quality for a building to be considered to have heritage significance. A place of worship, albeit ‘modern’ relative to other buildings, can be significant for other reasons such as its representative architectural style, its association with a prominent architectural firm, as an example of a war memorial, and its obvious social significance to the community and congregation.
The purpose of heritage listing is to preserve places that reveal and tell the story of our past, for future generations to appreciate. It will not impede any future development.
According to the Council report, the planning controls for heritage aim to manage changes to a building so that they appropriately conserve the significance of a place and any prospective development application, whether it be for alterations, upgrades or new developments, would be considered and assessed on its merits in terms of its sensitivity to the heritage item.
The full Council will meet tonight to consider the next steps in this continuing heritage saga.
The youths are taking part in the 2023 Greek Summer Camp program organised by the Greek Community of Melbourne (GCM) in collaboration with the Hellenic Foreign Affairs Ministry and Thessaloniki YMCA.
Photo: facebook
During their visit to Kavala, the youth met with the Deputy Mayor of Culture and Education at Kavala, Apostolos Moumotsakis. He spoke with them about the history of Kavala and the architecture of its buildings.
The Greek Summer Program will run until July 11, 2023 and included Thessaloniki, as well as multiple visits to neighbouring towns such as Serres and Xanthi.
