City of Canada Bay Mayor Angelo Tsirekas has confirmed he will stand as an Independent candidate at the next Local Government Elections, which have been postponed until December 4, 2021, due to COVID-19.

The State Government notified the public of the election postponement in July.

“While COVID-19 may have delayed Local Government Elections, the City of Canada Bay is pressing on with the many projects already planned and currently underway,” says Mr Tsirekas who has been the popularly elected mayor for the past 18 years and a Councillor since 1995.

“It’s time to focus on people, not party politics,” says Mayor Tsirekas whose campaign will focus on putting Our Local Community first.

The Our Local Community team includes Drummoyne Medical Centre GP Joe Cordaro, restaurant identity and Italian cultural ambassador Carmel Ruggeri, long-time resident and Wests Ashfield Leagues Club Director Mick Liubinskas, and Nurse, Health Administrator and Kokoda Track Memorial Walkway Director Alice Kang.

“Our community has growing concerns about traffic congestion, planning controls and overcrowding in Canada Bay. It will be the continued focus of Our Local Community to address those concerns as well as continue to maintain the safety and amenity that make our LGA among the most desirable areas to live in NSW,” Mayor Angelo says.

Our Local Community will focus on the following major points affecting residents:

● With Victoria Rd, Parramatta Rd and Concord Rds being some of the busiest traffic corridors in the state, Our Local Community team will push for assistance from the NSW Government for better solutions to ease traffic, speeding and to create a safer environment for all.

● Despite major planning controls being taken out of Council hands, Our Local Community team will seek to limit increasing height and density controls, to ensure Canada Bay keeps its local character.

● Significant work has already been undertaken to beautify and rehabilitate our 35km of Parramatta River foreshore, extending from Drummoyne to Rhodes. Our Local Community team will prioritise public access and improve foreshore amenity and safety.

● With an increasing number of cars in Canada Bay, Our Local Community team will prioritise parking for residents through a clear and equitable parking policy and look to build carparking stations on Government land.

About Mayor Angelo Tsirekas:

Angelo Tsirekas has served the people of the City of Canada Bay for more than two decades: as a
local government councillor, Deputy Mayor and has been the popularly elected Mayor of Canada
Bay since 2002.

He is a qualified health and building inspector and is currently the elected Vice-President (Metropolitan) of Local Government NSW, the peak body for 128 Councils across NSW, and former
president of the Inner Metropolitan Regional Organisation of Councils.

Angelo is passionate about community sport and competes for Drummoyne Water Polo Club, has
played soccer for Five Dock and Concord Junior Football Clubs and is an honorary vice-president of
Drummoyne Rugby Club, touring with the Vintage Reds.

Angelo was honoured by Rotary with the Paul Harris Award and is a long-serving member of the
Kokoda Track Memorial Walkway Board. He has led treks across the Kokoda Trail in Papua New
Guinea on eight occasions, in honour of our shared wartime history with Concord Hospital and the
sacred Kokoda story.

Angelo’s family migrated from Thessaloniki in northern Greece to Sydney’s Inner West when he
was an infant and he has been a lifelong resident since.

Qantas is facing criminal prosecution for standing down a worker who raised concerns about contracting COVID-19 from aircraft arriving from China at the start of the pandemic, the ABC reports.

Theo Seremetidis, who was an aircraft cleaner and trained health and safety representative, was told not to come to work from February 7, 2020 after he directed some workers to “cease unsafe work.”

Mr Seremetidis, who worked for Qantas for nearly seven years, said he raised concerns about cleaning staff not having adequate personal protective equipment, even masks, to use while working on planes that had arrived from China in early 2020.

“At the start of the pandemic, we were directed to clean planes with just water, no sanitiser,” Mr Seremetidis told a Senate committee on job security this month.

“And I asked for PPE and risk assessments but everything was declined.”

Qantas has denied those claims, insisting all workers were provided with masks, gloves and gowns and using strong cleaning products, not “just water.”

But SafeWork NSW has now filed charges against Qantas in the District Court for allegedly breaching the Work Health and Safety Act.

“The proceedings are first listed before the District Court on Monday, December 6,” a spokesman for SafeWork NSW told The Daily Telegraph.

“As the matter is before the court, no further information can be provided at this time.”

Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations, Work Health and Safety, Sophie Cotsis, said this verdict shows employers must not ignore safety concerns raised by work, health and safety representatives.

“Rather than being penalised, any worker who identifies a workplace health and safety risk should be commended for protecting their colleagues from any potential harm and their employers from any liability,” Ms Cotsis said in a media release.

If the charges are upheld, Qantas could face significant financial penalties with each Work Health and Safety breach attracting a maximum fine of $594,021.

Mr Seremeditis is also taking legal action against Qantas in the Federal Court over his alleged mistreatment.

It’s been six months since the mix-up of two bodies by Greek-owned funeral parlour, Euro Funeral Services, and one family is still waiting for an apology and full refund of the funeral costs as promised by Director, Spiros Haralambous.

The family has spoken directly to The Greek Herald about the ordeal and say they are ‘heartbroken’ by the recent turn of events.

“My ongoing struggle with the way this matter has been handled is disgraceful. The fact that my children and I carried a stranger to his grave,” Kerry Demetriou says.

“It has been over 6 months since we lost my dad and having to continue to deal with this matter daily, is like reliving his loss daily. The pain and grief of knowing that I never had the opportunity to bury my father is heartbreaking.”

READ MORE: Funeral mix up sends shockwaves through Sydney’s Greek community.

They say they were not given a chance to properly farewell their father as the man they buried was the wrong person. That man was exhumed, while their actual father was buried on February 13 at Rockwood Cemetery without the family present. They were told by the funeral director they were not allowed to attend due to NSW Health Department regulations.

Now, they are in the process of fighting for full compensation as promised by Mr Haralambous in media interviews with Channel 7 and 2UE Radio after the mix-up.

“This for me was to be some closure, that after everything we had endured we would at least receive this money back,” Kerry says.

READ MORE: ‘Terrible thing to happen’: Greek Australian family reflects on shocking funeral mix up.

Timeline of events:

According to documents obtained by The Greek Herald, Mr Haralambous did advise the deceased man’s daughter, who was “the applicant of the funeral,” of the mix-up and sought her approval and signature to exhume the body of the other family’s father.  

In a review of the incident by The Funeral Directors Association of NSW Ltd, they say that legally, the applicant was the only person “to whom all issues must be communicated to” by Mr Haralambous.

But the family involved in the mix-up say the daughter was struck by grief at the time of consent and therefore they believe Mr Haralambous’ actions were unjustified.

As a result, in an email dated February 19, 2021, and sent to Mr Haralambous, the family ask specifically for (a) a full refund, (b) for Euro Funerals to make the appropriate arrangements for their father to be exhumed again for a more dignified funeral, (c) for Mr Haralambous to personally apologise to all children for the mistake, and (d) for Mr Haralambous to make a fair and reasonable compensation payment to avoid unnecessary court proceedings.

Now, according to the review from The Funeral Directors Association of NSW Ltd, Mr Haralambous has apologised to the daughter, but as mentioned above, the family want an apology to all its members.

READ MORE: Funeral home’s horror coffin mix-up has happened before.

In addition, Mr Haralambous has stated in an email sent to the family, dated February 25, 2021 and obtained by The Greek Herald, that “we have no hesitation in providing a full refund for the amount as indicated on our invoice,” which is $10,315.18. 

But so far, the family tell The Greek Herald they have received no money and to receive the full amount, they must sign a waiver which they say they are yet to see. This is also confirmed by Mr Haralambous’ February 25 email seen by The Greek Herald.

“We have attempted to solve this respectfully outside of the legal framework with no result. In honour of my father, it is our intention to ensure that this situation is finalised and handled with the dignity he deserves,” Kerry says.

“My intentions here is to ensure the community is aware of this situation, so that no one else needs to go through the heartache I have had.”

The family is hesitant to sign the waiver and as a result, it seems only time will tell what the final outcome will be.

Euro Funerals Comment:

Both families have been privately and publicly provided with sincere apologies and we have already and will continue to release comprehensive responses and statements on our business and personal platforms.

The Director took full responsibility and did not in anyway attempt to justify or play down the incident and from the outset has offered and continues to offer a full refund to both families.

A Full refund has been offered via our lawyers to the family and in this instance we are still awaiting for a response to resolve the matter from the family solicitors.