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Greece’s Prime Minister meets with Greek Community of Melbourne delegation

The Greek Herald
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Greece’s Prime Minister meets with Greek Community of Melbourne delegation

Greece’s Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, met with a delegation from the Greek Community of Melbourne (GCM), including its President Bill Papastergiadis and Treasurer Associate Professor Marinis Pirpiris, at the Maximos Mansion in Athens on Thursday, July 14.

The meeting was also attended by Greece’s Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister, Andreas Katsaniotis, the Member of Parliament and Secretary General of the Standing Committee of National Defense and Foreign Affairs, Tasos Hatzivasiliou, the Secretary General of Greeks Abroad & Public Diplomacy, John Chrysoulakis and the Director of the Prime Minister’s Diplomatic Office, Ambassador Anna Maria Bura.

During the meeting, special mention was made of the diverse and rich activities developed by the GCM, which focus on the preservation of the Greek cultural heritage and the support of Greek national issues.

GCM delegation meet with Mitsotakis.

For his part, Mitsotakis thanked the GCM for its leadership and expressed his appreciation for its efforts in promoting Greece’s modern image to Australia.

The Greek Prime Minister also focused on the relations of Greece with the diaspora, making special reference to the new digital services such as ‘My Consul Live,’ which are now available to expatriates to overcome chronic bureaucratic delays and provide faster and more efficient consular services.

Finally, Mitsotakis pointed out that the completion of a bilateral double taxation agreement is a priority of his government – a perspective of particular importance for the further deepening of bilateral economic relations with Australia and the promotion of mutual investments.

Mr Papastergiadis initially referred to the need for stronger ties between Australian and Greek universities. Amongst other things, he noted how important it was to have students completing part of their university degree in Greece, and referred to the need for recognition by both countries of university degrees.

Mr Papastergiadis thanked in particular Mr Katsaniotis and Mr Chrysoulakis for the cultural and educational camp that recently commenced in Thessaloniki with over 40 young Greek Australian adults taking part.

The GCM President then pointed to the recent Victoria Government-funded Open Horizons exhibition at the Melbourne Museum and the partial involvement of the GCM, and then referred to the commitment of Minister Lina Mendoni to expand the cultural offerings of Greece to the diaspora.

Mr Papastergiadis meeting with Greece’s Prime Minister.

Mr Papastergiadis also referred to continued conversations with the Tourism Office of Greece, as well as Enterprise Greece in terms of having a footprint in Melbourne.

Mr Papastergiadis noted the positive steps being undertaken by both governments on a double taxation agreement and the hard work of a subcommittee of Greek Australians who were providing input on the terms of such an agreement and a bilateral health agreement that would provide appropriate health cover for their respective citizens when abroad.

The meeting came to a close with discussion about a potential visit by the Greek Prime Minister to Australia.

‘We must come to a collaborative step forward’: Dr Andonis Piperoglou

Argyro Vourdoumpa
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‘We must come to a collaborative step forward’: Dr Andonis Piperoglou

“Very positive, very revitalised and very excited,” replies Dr Andonis Piperoglou, when I ask him how he feels about his recent appointment as the inaugural Hellenic Senior Lecturer in Global Diasporas at the University of Melbourne.

“It’s a really exciting opportunity to start to reframe and rethink the concepts and associations we have with the understanding of diaspora in a global context, in what we might think of as a transcultural context.”

Having grown up in Canberra and with a Cypriot and Castellorizian heritage, Piperoglou has spent many years studying the presence of Greeks in Australia through a historical lens and says he has seen “the lack of multicultural and migrant ethnic narratives in our country”.

“This position offers a really important and much needed opportunity to start to reframe notions of not just Australia, but also Greece,” he says.

“To reframe the diversity that exists in our society, to better represent in our classrooms, in our public scholarship, and in academic conversations about what it means to live in a super diverse diasporic culture.”

We chat about our different migration journeys and how Greek Australians are comparable with other diasporic groups.

“This position is an opportunity on many fronts to put the study of Australia on the map in a global context, the study of Greek mobility and migration on a global map,” he says. 

But what about the language and the declining number of people who learn Greek?

“I hope to coordinate in some way or form in tandem with what is possible at the university, to revitalise the teaching of Greek,” says the young academic. 

“Many people have an estranged relation with the language often set in what we could call ‘kitchen Greek’. A relationship with the language by going to your yiayia’s house, engaging with food, engaging with an intimacy of what that means in the private home.

Dr Andonis Piperoglou. Photo ©Effy Alexakis, photowrite

”This is a great challenge of upholding language retention intergenerationally. I’m very focused on trying to enhance language retention from high school into the university space.”

Piperoglou says that he hopes to become a bridge between the university and the community and help to think reflectively and critically about cultural and linguistic retention.

”We have to think about what it means then to teach Greek. I think this is an opportunity to think about the reframing of languages in a very monocultural society,” he says.

“Australia is fixated on being an English-speaking society although more than half of the population were born overseas or have a parent born overseas. It’s very hard to break this monoculturalism, but I will do my best.”

However, it’s not only the government on a state and federal level that need to rethink the teaching of languages but the communities themselves.

“While community and ethnic schools are very important and have played a significant role in upholding the language over many years, these spaces often become quite alienated and dated for our young people. They do not seem to be comfortable, necessarily safe spaces, to which kids want to keep going to,” he says.

“We need to think how we can make things more exciting for young people and part of my job in these early stages of this position is to start a consultation with the community and the university about how we can achieve that.” 

We discuss about the importance of collaborations and between tertiary institutions and community organisations.

“We can have an inter-diasporic dialogue between established organisations in Sydney and Melbourne to come to think about some of our common issues in a more systematic and comprehensive way,” suggests the lecturer. 

“I won’t be able to do this by myself. We have to bring people together, to start having constructive conversations that generate shifts in how we’ve traditionally gone about doing things.

“We must come to some kind of a collaborative step forward,” he concludes.

Replicas of the Parthenon Marbles carved by robot fuel debate about restitution

The Greek Herald
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Replicas of the Parthenon Marbles carved by robot fuel debate about restitution

The Oxford-based Institute for Digital Archaeology (IDA) has created replicas of two Parthenon Marbles pieces housed at the British Museum and they will be exhibited in London later this month, The New York Times has reported.

The Executive Director of the IDA, Roger Michel, told the news publication that an exact model of the life-size head of a horse, as well as of a metope showing the wedding feast of Peirithous and Hippodamia, will be carved from Pentelic Marble by a robot and completed by the end of July.

In Michel’s mind, these copies are intended for the British Museum with the original Parthenon Marbles to be repatriated back to their place of origin – the Parthenon in Athens, Greece.

“Our sole purpose is to encourage repatriation of the Elgin marbles,” Michel said. “When two people both want the same cake, baking a second, identical cake is one obvious solution.”

To make these identical copies, Michel defied the British Museum after it refused his formal request to scan the pieces.

Mr Michel and the technical director of the IDA, Alexy Karenowska, showed up to the British Museum and scanned the marbles using iPhones and iPads “equipped with Lidar sensors and photogrammetry software to create 3D digital images.”

These 3D images were then uploaded into the carving robot to create the replicas.

Early images of the models are striking and have since reignited the debate for the restitution of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece.

The Parthenon Marbles have always been a topic of heated debate. Photo: History Extra.

Some experts such as Colleen Morgan, who works in digital archaeology and heritage at the University of York, questioned the initiative to The New York Times and asked: “What population does this replication serve? What are the political implications?”

Others such as Philhellene and actor, Stephen Fry, have always advocated for 3D replicas of the Marbles to be given to the Museum in return for the real artefacts to be returned to Greece.

“It would be such a classy act and Britain frankly needs the world to see it do something classy,” Fry said last year.

So far, Greece’s Culture Minister, Dr Lina Mendoni, has not commented on the imitation works.

Source: The New York Times.

US Congressman Chris Pappas targets F-16 sales to Turkey over Greek security concerns

The Greek Herald
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US Congressman Chris Pappas targets F-16 sales to Turkey over Greek security concerns

The House Rules Committee has voted to include an amendment by US Congressman and Democrat, Chris Pappas, in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2023, which would prohibit the sale of F-16s or modernisation kits to Turkey unless certain conditions are met.  

According to Ekathimerini, the amendment requires the US President to certify that “such a transfer is in the national interest of the United States” and requires “concrete steps taken to ensure that such F-16s are not used by Turkey for repeated unauthorised territorial overflights of Greece.”

The amendment however, leaves a window open that allows the president to override the restrictions if he certifies to Congress that doing so is in the vital interest of US national security.

Congressman Pappas proposed the amendment earlier this week. It was the first concrete effort by lawmakers to constrain US President Biden’s intent to strengthen Turkey’s F-16 fleet.

The State Department has notified Congress it intends to sell military equipment to modernise Turkey’s existing fleet of F-16’s, and Biden late last month expressed support for selling the jets to Ankara.

Congressman Pappas has consistently opposed the sale of F-16s to Turkey and said in a press release that “Turkey’s increasingly belligerent rhetoric and aggression towards Greece, a reliable democratic NATO ally, cannot be ignored.”

Current jets used by Turkey.

“It is deeply concerning to me and many in Congress that President Biden supports moving forward with this sale while Turkey has failed to address the issues that led to its ejection from the F-35 program and the imposition of CAATSA sanctions more than three years ago,” the Congressman added.

In May, Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, also addressed the issue during a joint session of US Congress.

In his speech, Mitsotakis warned the US to consider carefully “defence procurement decisions concerning the eastern Mediterranean” that could contribute to “instability on NATO’s south-eastern flank.”

Source: Ekathimerini.

Elinor Kasapidis on what to watch out for this tax time

The Greek Herald
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Elinor Kasapidis on what to watch out for this tax time

The Australian Tax Office (ATO) says there are four key areas under scrutiny this tax time: record keeping, work-related expenses, rental property income/deductions and capital gains from crypto assets, property and shares.

Speaking to The Sydney Morning Herald, senior manager of tax policy at CPA Australia, Elinor Kasapidis, said the tax office will also be scrutinising tax returns and the rental schedules.

“They’ll also be looking for things like undeclared income from renting out rooms or homes on a part-time basis,” Kasapidis said.

“That is because people have been overclaiming or they’ve not been claiming correctly in the past.”

According to the most recent ATO data, over 2.2 million Australians hold an investment property and they claim as much as $50 billion in deductions each year, which exceeds the $48 billion reported as rental income.

What should you watch out for this tax time?

Kasapidis said that permissible deductible expenses include repairs and maintenance costs, as well as interest payments.

“Where sometimes landlords get into trouble, for example, is a holiday house where they or their close family might actually use it for parts of the year,” she said.

“So, the ATO is really big on landlords making sure that properties were genuinely available for rent, they were on the market, before people can start to claim those costs.

“People are claiming expenses for periods when they’re actually using their house for themselves, or their friends or family are using the house. That’s not OK.”

Beach holiday house in Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. Photo: Stayz.

As a general rule, Kasapidis said if investors received relief in the form of grants or government support, it is taxable and should be declared as income.

This comes as earlier in the year Kasapidis suggested Australians should adopt a conservative approach when claiming working from home (WFH) expenses.

In a media release titled “Yeah nah:” Six things you can’t claim this tax time, the Greek Australian provided six WFH expenses that “won’t fly with the ATO.”

On the list were: pet daycare, WFH wear (e.g. ugg boots and track pants), certain accessories, zoom-ready home décor, wellness activities/classes and mid-day snacks.

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald.

‘We deserve support’: Greek Australian women respond to Archbishop Makarios’ abortion message

The Greek Herald
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‘We deserve support’: Greek Australian women respond to Archbishop Makarios’ abortion message

Over 140 Greek Australian women from across Australia have expressed their “disdain and disappointment” at a recent statement by Greek Orthodox Archbishop Makarios of Australia on a woman’s right to an abortion.

In the statement, the Archbishop wrote that it is a pregnant woman’s “obligation and maternal responsibility” to “keep the child in her womb, giving this child the chance to be born.”

“When a woman kills the embryo, she is not fulfilling her duty as a mother, she may claim this to be her own right but at the same time she revokes the right of life for the embryo. May God pity us… May God enlighten us,” the message reads.

In response, a group of Greek Australian women have issued a joint statement criticising Archbishop Makarios’ public proclamation, and calling on leaders of the church “to abandon attitudes to women that belong in the dark ages and have no place in the contemporary Greek Australian community.”

“Women should be able to control what happens to their bodies and have the autonomy to decide whether to have a child or not,” the women said in the signed statement.

“The Archbishop’s inference that women are mere carriers of a foetus and their needs and wants are secondary to that, is not in keeping with the advances in women’s human rights in contemporary society.”

The Greek Australian women add that “no woman from our community should feel alone, ashamed or marginal because of her personal decision in regard to having an abortion.”

“Women deserve support and not censure or opprobrium for making decisions that are in the best interests of their health and life circumstances,” the statement reads.

Abortion stigma is still prevalent in Australia.

‘Devastated by his comments’:

The issue of abortion has been in the spotlight recently after the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the Roe v Wade ruling which gave women federal abortion protections.

At the time, Greek and Australian leaders, including the Prime Ministers of both countries and women’s right advocates, slammed the Supreme Court’s decision calling it “a major step back in the fight for women’s rights.”

But the abortion stigma is still prevalent in Australia, especially in multicultural communities where silence, shame, guilt and fear remain very real barriers, not only to accessing safe abortion but to speaking openly about it.

“MA had to abort her seven week baby, which was a result of her being sexually abused by her step father,” a SydWest Multicultural Services spokesperson told The Greek Herald explaining that the statement by the Archbishop was ‘devastating’ for her client.

“She is questioning her existence not being able to understand what she did wrong. She told me ‘I wasn’t the one who sinned’.”

CEO of SydWest Multicultural Services, Elfa Moraitakis, who has also signed the joint statement says that spiritual leaders should support women and not judge their decisions.

“It was not that long ago when we witnessed the Abortion Law reform act in different states making abortion another medical procedure rather than a criminal act. Such statements from our religious leaders can only make women feeling judged, alienated, and is taking us very far back in time,” Ms Moraitakis says.

“It is not just a matter of human rights and being pro-choice; it is also a matter of safety for women that under very different circumstances each one, feels extremely vulnerable. It is then that we all need the support and have the expectation from our faith leaders to preach love and inclusiveness.”

Greek Australian advocate, Violet Roumeliotis, also added that the overturning of Roe v Wade “was a devastating decision for many women,” but it is disappointing faith leaders have taken this as an opportunity to create further division.

“I find it extremely disappointing that leaders of faith or politics would use this opportunity to further divide community rather than reinforce the importance of women across the globe to make decisions about their own bodies,” Ms Roumeliotis said.

“This is an issue that relates to health, relationships and families, and women should not have faith or political leaders dictate what they can and cannot do in this space.”

For community member Persefoni Thliveris, access to legal abortion and safety is the main concern.

“Women deserve support not disdain and humiliation, our bodies our decision on such personal matters.
What about situations of incest and rape,” she wonders.

Community organisations like the Greek Orthodox Community of Melbourne have also issued pro-choice statements clarifying that “this is an issue of gender equity and the respect for women’s right to make decisions regarding their reproductive life” with more to follow suit.

The Greek Orthodox Community of NSW (GOCNSW) have also issued a pro-choice statement today condemning the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade.

“Women deserve support and not censure or opprobrium for making decisions that are in the best interests of their health and life circumstances,” the GOCNSW statement reads.

“[We] condemn this decision [to overturn Roe v Wade] which restricts women’s human rights and choice and takes us back to medieval times.”


Greece’s former National Theatre Director out on parole after being found guilty of two rapes

The Greek Herald
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Greece’s former National Theatre Director out on parole after being found guilty of two rapes

The former Director of Greece’s National Theatre, Dimitris Lignadis, has been released from jail pending appeal after a court found him guilty of the rape of two men when they were minors and sentenced him to 12 years in prison.

According to AP News, the decision to release the 57-year-old was greeted by shouts of disbelief by many people that had crowded inside the small Athens courtroom and spilled outside.

The presiding judge had to call on police to clear the room of protesters. The defendant was escorted out of the court via a back door.

As part of his parole, Lignadis is barred from leaving Greece, he has to report to the police precinct closest to his residence every first and 10th of each month, and post a 30,000-euro bond by July 29.

The former artistic director of Greece’s National Theater Dimitris Lignadis, center, accompanied by police arrives at the court in Athens, Greece, Wednesday, July 13, 2022. Photo: AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis.

When arguing for his client’s release pending appeal, Lignadis’ lawyer, Alexis Kougias, told the court that it could take three to four years for an appeals verdict to be reached and urged the three judges and four jurors not to “destroy” his client’s life.

The public prosecutor has asked that the sentence should not be suspended pending appeal as Lignadis hadn’t acknowledged his crimes and he could commit more as a result.

Earlier Wednesday, Lignadis had been found guilty in two out of four cases of rape.

Lignadis was acquitted for insufficient evidence in a third case, while the fourth accuser never appeared in court to testify, despite a court decision ordering him to. He had provided a false address.

Greece’s National Theatre Director is out on parole after being found guilty of two rapes. Photo: Keep Talking Greece.

The 12 year sentence arises from the merger of a sentence of 10 years and a sentence of five years decided for each offence separately. The rapes happened when the victims were minors, in 2010 and 2015.

The appeal will be heard by a five-judge court.

Lignadis had been ordered jailed when the rape allegations first surfaced in February 2021. A few days earlier, he had resigned from his post of artistic director of Greece’s National Theater, which he had held since 2019.

READ MORE: ‘Time for acts to break inaction’: Greek PM introduces harsher punishments for sexual abuse.

Source: AP News.

Two dead after firefighting helicopter crashes off Greek island of Samos

The Greek Herald
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Two dead after firefighting helicopter crashes off Greek island of Samos

Two members of a helicopter crew battling a forest fire on the Greek island of Samos died when it crashed into the sea, authorities said on Wednesday.

According to AP News, a Romanian national and a Greek liaison officer died in the crash, while two Moldovan nationals survived.

Photo of the helicopter crash. Photo: Samos24.gr.

The Soviet-made Mil Mi-8 medium twin-turbine helicopter took off from Samos at 4.39 pm and fell into the sea at 5.55 pm, the Greek Coast Guard said.

Nine vessels, five from the Coast Guard, two from the army and two private, as well as a helicopter, took part in the rescue operation.

The rescue operation. Photos: Samos24.gr.
One of the members of the helicopter being rescued.

A total of 27 firefighters, four water-dropping aircraft, and one helicopter were continuing to fight the blaze that broke out earlier on the island on Wednesday in a forested area near the village of Palaiohori.

Due to the strong winds, the villages of Makria Pounta and Limnionas were evacuated late on Wednesday.

A village on Samos island is currently burning. Photo: Keep Talking Greece.

This is the second big fire on Samos island in 2022 and the third since July 2021. The deaths are the first reported casualties from Greece’s fire season.

Source: AP News.

Sydney music performance set to celebrate 100 years since birth of composer Iannis Xenakis

Chris Spyrou
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Sydney music performance set to celebrate 100 years since birth of composer Iannis Xenakis

Australia’s largest contemporary multi-arts precinct, Carriageworks in Sydney, will present Time as Revelator, by contemporary instrumental group Ensemble Offspring, featuring a celebration of the 100-year anniversary of the birth of legendary Greek Fench composer Iannis Xenakis.

The one-night-only performance will take place on 16 July 2022 and will be led by acclaimed percussionist and Artistic Director, Claire Edwardes OAM.

Time as Revelator showcases the power of the beat whilst exploring the passage of time. Not shying away from a steady pulse, and with the occasional futuristic glitch thrown in, the program features original works for instrumental chamber combinations. 

Ensemble Offspring features a core lineup of world-class musicians on violin, cello, flute, clarinet, piano and percussion. Photo: Keith Saunders

As a centennial celebration of the birth of acclaimed architect and composer Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001), audiences will be treated to a special performance of his work Plekto. In Plekto, meaning ‘braids,’ instruments intertwine and overlap to create a dense melodic plait.

Xenakis is considered a leading figure of modernism in music, known for his experimental composition techniques derived from mathematics, architectural principles and game theory that soon entered the basic vocabulary of the twentieth-century avant-garde.

Xenakis is known for his experimental composition techniques derived from mathematics, architectural principles and game theory.

However, he never embraced total serialism and he also avoided more traditional devices of harmony and counterpoint. Instead, Xenakis developed other ways of organising the dense masses of sound that are characteristic of his first compositions.

These stochastic, or random, procedures were based on mathematical principles and were later entrusted to computers for their realisation.

For all the formal control in their composition, Xenakis’ scores retain an elemental energy, a life-force that gives the music visceral impact.

Tickets, in-person and streaming can be purchased here.

Andrea Michaels MP meets Cypriot Minister Natasa Pilidou in Cyprus

The Greek Herald
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Andrea Michaels MP meets Cypriot Minister Natasa Pilidou in Cyprus

South Australian Minister for Small and Family Business, Consumer and Business Affairs, and the Arts, Andrea Michaels MP, met with the Cypriot Minister for Energy, Commerce and Industry, Natasa Pilidou, at the Australian High Commission Office in Cyprus on Tuesday.

The Cypriot Minister briefed the Member for Enfield on the work Cyprus is undertaking in the fields of renewable energy, rising prices in fuel and cost of living, as well as the nation’s commercial developments.

READ MORE: Greece, Cyprus, Israel and USA hold first ministerial summit on climate action

In a Facebook post, the Australian High Commission Office said: “There are many areas of common interest between Cyprus and Australia, including in cooperating on climate change as South Australia has an identical climate to Cyprus and faces the same problems.”

Andrea Michaels MP meeting with Natasha Pilidou, joined by the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary Marios Panayides and Senior Trade and Industry Officer Loukis Symeonides. Photo: Australian High Commission, Cyprus Facebook.

“The Cyprus Institute’s collaboration with CSIRO at the Pentakoko Proteas heliostat project was discussed, as was the drought-resistant Xynisteri and Maratheftiko grape vines now being planted and researched in South Australia,” the post continued.

Minister Michaels, being of Cypriot heritage herself, encouraged further collaboration between Australia and Cyprus in mutually beneficial activities, and said she looks forward to celebrating the 50-year anniversary of bilateral relations in 2023.

READ MORE: Andrea Michaels: From humble beginnings to South Australia’s Cabinet table

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