The Premier of South Australia, Steven Marshall, and Assistant Minister to the Premier, Jing Lee, have issued a letter to the state’s Greek and Cypriot communities to mark OXI Day.
In the letter, Mr Marshall and Ms Lee acknowledge the brave acts conducted by Greeks during WWII, and also thank the Greek and Cypriot communities for their continued “cultural and economic contributions” to the state.
Full letter in English:
“We write to convey to you and South Australia’s Greek and Cypriot communities our best wishes on the occasion of OXI Day on 28 October.
Premier of South Australia, Steven Marshall.
This day is celebrated in remembrance of the moment in 1940, during the Greco-italian War, when the Greek Prime Minister, loannis Metaxas said “OXI“ (No) and refused to let the Italian troops enter Greece’s border. It is considered each year as a day that represents courage, solidarity and heroism for millions of Greeks all around the world.
OXI day commemorates a day of great pride for Greek and Cypriot communities. It not only recalls the bravery of the people who fought in the past but focuses on the future and a strong belief in enduring freedom and prosperity.
South Australia is home to a rich, diverse and vibrant multicultural community. We deeply value our longstanding relations with our Greek and Cypriot communities, and the enormous cultural and economic contributions you continue to make to our great State.
We wish you and your friends, family and loved ones a safe and happy OXI Day 2021!”
Greek Australians are pushing to see the Parthenon Marbles repatriated from the British Museum to Athens.
Elly Symons is the vice-president of the Australian Parthenon Committee and a founder of the Acropolis Research Group.
The Australian-born archaeologist has spent the last eight years campaigning for the return of the marbles. It’s why she studied archaeology and moved to Athens.
“It’s just a very ugly episode in human history that we can wantonly [sic] destroy something so perfect and so unique, a unique part of humanity,” she says.
George Vardas (left), Elly Symons (right)
George Vardas, vice-president of Australians for the Return of the Parthenon Sculptures, hopes to see the marbles returned to their rightful home in his lifetime.
“I’m now 66. [Within] 20, 30 years, I’d like to think so,” he says.
“If not, my grandson has just turned three. I’m priming him to take over from his granddad who lost his marbles.”
Human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson has his sights set on the United Nations’ International Court of Justice.
He says it may be the only way to ever see the marbles repatriated.
“I’m afraid it has to be a legal strategy,” he says.
“The only way that the marbles will ever come back is to have the judgment of the International Court of Justice.”
Geoffrey Robertson QC (Photo: The Greek Herald)
Robertson contests that the marbles were stolen and says any claims that paperwork legitimised Lord Elgin’s acquirement of the marbles in the early 19th century are false.
“All Elgin could produce to justify his claim of ownership was a letter that had been written by an official at the port to the Ottoman government to the governor of Athens,” he says.
“It didn’t give him any rights other than to enter [the temple] and [sketch] and to pick up stones on the ground.”
The legality of the British Museum’s claim on the marbles is based on this paperwork but the original document has never been found.
“The Sultan never signed anything,” says Robertson.
Three girls and a woman died after a dinghy transporting migrants from the coast of Turkey sank near Chios on Tuesday, Greek authorities said.
Three rescue helicopters, two coast guard vessels, and at least six nearby private boats took part in rescuing another 22 on the boat – 14 men, seven women, and a child – and at least one person who went missing.
“A large number of passengers was on the vessel. That fact, in combination with adverse weather conditions, led to the detachment of the boat floor,” the Greek coast guard said, noting that none of the passengers wore life jackets.
Ναυάγιο με νεκρούς μετανάστες και πρόσφυγες Ανατολικά της Χίου, όταν βυθίστηκε η λέμβος στην οποία επέβαιναν.Σε εξέλιξη επιχείρηση διάσωσης. Στιγμιότυπο από την μεταφορά των διασωθέντων στο λιμάνι από σκάφος του Λιμενικού (ΔΗΜΗΤΡΗΣ ΒΟΥΧΟΥΡΗΣ/EUROKINISSI, 26 October 2021)
In a tweet, Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi said the dead children ranged in age from 3 to 14. He initially reported that all of the passengers who died were minors.
The minister accused the Turkish government of failing to observe its 2016 agreement with the European Union to try to keep asylum-seekers from setting out for EU territory from Turkey.
“The Turkish authorities must do more to prevent exploitation by criminal gangs at source. These journeys should never be allowed to happen,” Mitarachi wrote.
Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi accused the Turkish government of not doing enough to prevent incidents like Tuesday’s sinking (ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ/ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ/ΓΙΑΝΝΗΣ ΚΟΛΕΣΙΔΗΣ, 2019)
Turkey, which hosts about 4 million refugees, counters that the EU has been slow to deliver on promises of financial support.
Greece was the main entry point for refugees and migrants entering the European Union during a 2015-16 period of mass migration. The number of arrivals has dropped sharply over the past two years in part due to tougher policing measures.
Greece is seeking EU support for tougher policing at the eastern and southern borders of the 27-nation bloc, including funds to extend border walls.
Greece and Saudi Arabia have agreed to set up a bilateral cooperation council.
It comes as part of talks between Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mistotakis and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh on Tuesday.
They met ahead of Mitsotakis’ address at the country’s Future Investment Initiative (FII) – a high-profile showcase summit for investors.
Mitsotakis used his address to call on Turkey to stop “aggressive posturing” and agree to maritime negotiations.
Συναντήθηκα με τον Διάδοχο του θρόνου της Σαουδικής Αραβίας, Πρίγκιπα Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. Συζητήσαμε τις προοπτικές εμβάθυνσης και διεύρυνσης της συνεργασίας μας σε τομείς αμοιβαίου ενδιαφέροντος, όπως οι επενδύσεις, η ενέργεια, ο τουρισμός και η άμυνα. pic.twitter.com/LibH40cn0u
“I think we’ve set up our alliances, we’ve drawn our lines very, very clearly,” Mitsotakis said.
“And I do hope that at some point, Turkey will constructively engage with us to resolve the one main outstanding issue we have which is the delineation of maritime shores.”
“We’re always open for dialogue, but we will not be intimidated and we will not accept our sovereign rights to be compromised.”
“I think at the end of the day, Turkey will also realise that this aggressive posturing in the eastern Mediterranean is not going to lead anywhere.”
Tensions between Greece and Turkey have flared recently over energy exploration rights in the eastern Mediterranean.
The two neighbours are at loggerheads over territorial rights in the Aegean Sea, maritime and aviation boundaries, and minority rights.
Prime Minister of Australia, Scott Morrison, has released an official statement today to mark the OXI Day anniversary.
In the statement, Mr Morrison speaks of the “magnificent Greek expression” of philotimo and how in 1941 this philotimo was “joined by the determination of Australian, New Zealand and British forces to stand with them on the side of right.”
Full Statement in English:
“On this day, the story of Greek pride, independence and courage echoes throughout the world. It is a story that should — must — be repeated and never be forgotten.
For us, and future generations, it tells of the rich rewards — of freedom and democracy — that flow from risking all for what is right.
On 28 October 1940, Greece stood in resolute defiance of the aggression of fascist Italy. As a nation, Greek strength lay not in numbers, but in conviction. The power of Greek opposition, rising from an ancient wellspring of honour, paved the eventual Allied path to victory.
Today, we reflect on the magnificent Greek expression, philotimo — love of honour. A word of profound and complex meaning, it embraces the virtues of decency, dignity, respect and honesty that shape a life lived well.
In it we find the inspiration for General Ioannis Metaxas’ answer ‘όχι!’ (no) to Benito Mussolini’s ultimatum in the dark early days of the Second World War.
And through philotimo, too, we are assured of the enduring strength of the friendship between Australia and Greece.
In 1941, Greek philotimo was joined by the determination of Australian, New Zealand and British forces to stand with them on the side of right.
Then, and today, Greece and Australia share a commitment to democracy, human dignity and the rule of law. This is the motivating power to withstand the forces of destruction and division. To live, in the spirit of philotimo, for something larger than oneself.
In memory of the tragedy of war, and in honour of the courage of personal sacrifice and the ideals of a common humanity, we reflect with gratitude on the hope ignited in Greece 81 years ago. Lest we forget.”
When we commemorate OXI Day we honour the resistance of the Greek people throughout the Second World War and the Allied forces who supported them, including those from Australia. These forces include hundreds of nurses from Australia, New Zealand and Britain.
This is the story of one of those nurses, a British nurse of Greek heritage, who served as a military nurse from the outbreak of the war in 1940 and through the Greek campaign of 1941. She would be the only nurse to remain on duty during the battle of Crete in May 1941. Her name was Joanna Stavridi.
Joanna was born on 21 September 1903 in London, the daughter of John and Anna Stavridi. The Stavridi family came from Ermopouli (then known as Syra), where her father was born in 1867.
John was a very influential figure, a former journalist turned diplomat, wealthy banker and financier, who had moved to London with his parents before the turn of the century.It should not surprise us that he came from this lovely island in the Cyclades. Visiting their today one might be surprised to realise that it was once Greece’s major port and trading centre.
Joanna’s father’s new roots in London did not diminish his loyalty to the land of his birth, serving as its Consul General almost continuously between 1903 to 1920. A friend of both Eleftherios Venizelos and Lloyd George, he played a key role as a diplomatic go-between, especially during the years leading up to, during and after the end of the First World War. After the war John was knighted by the British Government and would serve as Chairman of the British-owned Ionian Bank until his death in 1948.
From L to R: Red Cross Nurse Joanna Stavridi. Source: Valieri and Margaret Stavridi, reproduced in Eric Taylor, Heroines of WWII, Robert Hale, 1991 and Sir John Stavridi, Joanna’s father. Source: National Library of France.
There are indications that Joanna spent some of her early years growing up in Greece. Describing herself as “an ardent feminist”, Joanna was keen to play an active part in the war effort when war broke out in 1939. She soon began her nursing training with the Red Cross, serving at a First Aid Post in London.
Fate would draw her to Greece, initially to care for her ailing sister in Athens. With the Italian invasion in 1940, Joanna joined the Greek red Cross, completing her nursing training and was soon posted to an ambulance train tending and transporting the wounded from the Albanian front.
Following the German invasion in early April, Joanna and her sister managed to gain passage to Crete aboard a yacht, joining a party of medical staff led by British Colonel Hamilton-Fairley. The journey would be dramatic, the yacht bombed and eventually destroyed, with many crew members killed and six badly injured. Marooned on the island of Kimolos, they had to wait to be picked up by another vessel and eventually arrived at Chania, the whole journey taking ten days. Throughout the ordeal Joanna would care for the six wounded men.
While other Allied nurses who had arrived there were evacuated to Egypt prior to the German invasion, on 14 May Joanna volunteered to remain on Crete, serving as matron and theatre nurse at the 7th British General Hospital, a large, tented field hospital of some 600 beds.
Joanna was now the only Allied nurse on Crete. She would be noticed by patients, in her distinctive uniform of army battle dress and nurses cap. It was here that the wounded gave Joanna her epithet as “the Florence Nightingale of Crete.”
Australian nurses arrive on Crete after their evacuation from the mainland, April 1941, photo by George Silk. Source: AWM
The hospital was set up near the coast in the open to the west of Chania, on a “three fingered” promontory. With the beginning of the German invasion, the hospital would remain working as the battle raged around them, shells arching overhead.
One account tells of fully armed German soldiers charging into the hospital shouting orders at the Allied medical personnel only to dart off back into the battle, of German medical staff joining the Allied staff intending to the wounded of both sides and Allied ambulances driving through German lines carrying Allied and German wounded to the hospital. On one occasion the hospital was overrun, the staff and patients captured, only to be saved by the counterattack by a company of the New Zealand 18th Battalion.
Despite its Red Cross markings, the hospital was bombed, and machine gunned, medical officers killed, others wounded and much of their supplies destroyed. The Australian war correspondent John Hetherington who came to Greece during the campaign would write of this air attack in his book on the battle of Crete, Airborne Invasion, telling of the machine gun bullets tearing through the hospital tents.
Fortunately, the area contained ready-made bomb shelters in the form of caves along the nearby rocky coast. And so, during the night Joanna and the other staff moved the hospital and its patients to these caves.
While conditions in the caves were not ideal – its previous inhabitants being goats and its floor uneven – the staff soon organized the hospital, with cooking areas, stretcher beds, hurricane lamp lighting and an operating theatre on stone slabs near the entrance. This would now be known as the “cave hospital”.
Joanna’s story in True Comics magazine from September 1942. Source: Digital Comic Museum/Public Domain
The British official history reports that Joanna and the hospital treated an estimated 500 wounded patients as the battle raged overhead. Running out of food and supplies, Joanna is said to have successfully used a captured German flag to deceive the Germans to drop much needed food and supplies to the hospital.
The German capture of the Maleme airfield and their advance forced the Allied decision to retreat and with it the hospital and its patients who could be moved. And so it was that on 25 May, Joanna made the decision to stay and tend to those patients who were too ill to be moved, a decision that would lead to her eventual capture by the Germans a day or so later.
The Germans could scarcely believe their eyes that a woman had served there through the battle. Now wearing her Greek Red Cross nursing uniform, Joanna continued to treat the wounded at the hospital until she was transported to Athens and released to continue working as a nurse in an Athens hospital.
The story of her brave service soon spread throughout the Allied world. No doubt her caring for Australian and other Allied soldiers in Crete touched a nerve in far off Australia after the fall of the Island and the capture of many Australia soldiers.
The Australian press would print many accounts of her ordeal, serializing her story across Australia.It would be reported in the dailies of the big cities and the newspapers of Australia’s country towns and regions, carrying Joanna’s story to Wagga Wagga, the Riverina, Horsham and beyond, the home of many of Australia’s diggers who had served in Greece.
Melbourne’s Age newspaper described her as “a very great and a very brave woman.” Wagga Wagga’s Daily Advertiser wrote that “all with whom [Joanna] came in contact could not speak too highly of her supreme courage, humour and efficiency” and Sydney’s World News headlined their account simply “a great woman.”
The parkland at the promontory to the west of Chania, with the caves beyond, near where Joanna Stavridi nursed the wounded Allied soldiers during the battle of Crete. Photograph Jim Claven May 2016.
Her story would also be captured in a visual story or comic book dedicated to her part in the battle of Crete created in the United State during the war to inspire the public in their own resistance to the Axis threat. This beautiful little comic book – featuring the story of the “cave nurse” – survives to this day in collections across the world, a treasured visual memory of Joanna.
The British Colonel Hamilton Fairley of the Royal Army Medical who had helped her escape from mainland Greece, wrote of Joanna as one of the most valiant he had encountered, adding “she was as tough as any man and as tireless as the fittest of them. Utterly fearless.”
The writer and philhellene Dilys Powell wrote in 1941 of Joanna as a symbol of Greece’s resistance “a solitary woman, after the deliberate destruction by bombing of the hospital at Maleme [who] spent the last week nursing the wounded in caves by the sea.” By December 1941 Joanna’s service saw her awarded the Hellenic Red Cross and the Distinguished War Certificate by the Greek Red Cross and British Red Cross respectively.
The memorial on the waterfront to the west of the town. Photograph Jim Claven May 2016.
When she returned to England after the liberation of Greece, Joanna continued to advocate for Greece. In response to Winston Churchill’s description in 1944 of EAM as “a gang of bandits”, Sydney’s Tribune quoted Joanna as having risen to EAM’s defence, pointing to the support shown by the Greek resistance to Allied soldiers on the run, of the poor people of Greece caring for Allied soldiers, in the face of famine and enemy retribution, helping them on their escape back to Allied lines.
She died on 8 May 1976, aged 72, and was buried with her mother and father in the family grave at Hendon Cemetery, London. Recently Joanna’s life formed the inspiration for Leah Fleming’s historical novel – The Girl Under the Olive Tree – published in 2013.
On Oxi Day we should remember the bravery of all the women who took part in the defence and resistance of Greece. There are many war memorials on Crete but sadly none to this brave Anglo-Hellenic nurse and the hospital in which she served. There is a memorial nearby but no there is no mention of 1941, only the beautiful words of Cavafy to the brave dead.
Maybe she was a victim of the anti-EAM prejudices of post-war Greece. Standing at the site of the hospital a few years ago, I thought maybe it would be time to have a memorial erected to Joanna and her part in the battle of Crete.
Vale Joanna Stavridi, the Florence Nightingale of Crete.
*Jim Claven is a trained historian, freelance writer and published author who has been researching the Hellenic link to Australia’s Anzac story across both world wars for many years, conducting field research and leading tours across Greece. He is the author of Lemnos & Gallipoli Revealed: A Pictorial History of the Anzacs in the Aegean 1915-16 and the forthcoming Grecian Adventure: Anzac Trail Stories & Photographs, Greece 1941. He can be contacted via email: jimclaven@yahoo.com.au
Greek students across New South Wales returned to school on Monday with big smiles on their faces as they finally reunited with their friends and had real-life classroom lessons after over four months in lockdown.
Siblings, Natalie and Evan Mihail, from St Spyridon College in Kingsford, Sydney, were two of these students and they tell The Greek Herald they couldn’t wait to get back to school and reconnect with their friends face-to-face rather than simply over Zoom.
“As I entered the school gates I felt a sense of excitement to be reunited with my fellow peers and teachers,” Evan, who is in Year 8, says.
“I looked forward to every lesson and didn’t want the day to end. Being with my friends and teachers made six hours of a school day seem like not enough.”
Evan’s 16-year-old sister, Natalie, who is in Year 11, agreed and says whilst ‘home schooling was really effective’ she missed her social interactions.
“Home schooling was still really good… I found it really easy to communicate with teachers and even with my peers through media,” Natalie says.
“But being back at the College made me appreciate how beautiful our school is and the family orientated community we have.”
Natalie and Evan Mihail from St Spyridon College.
‘The house was quiet’:
It was an entirely different story, with a lot of mixed emotions, for the parents left behind as their children happily re-entered school gates on Monday.
Natalie and Evan’s mum, Gina Mihail, tells The Greek Herald that although she’s pleased they could return to school, she still missed them after spending almost every day with them during home schooling.
“We would go for short walks during break time or have a little bit of a basketball game during their breaks, so I actually really missed that,” Gina explains.
“My husband is working from home as well and my daughter is doing university from home and we felt a bit empty. But no, I’m glad they’re back though. I think it’s good for the children to be back.”
Helen Karavitis feels the same way after she sent her 14-year-old daughter, Karina Giokaris, and 11-year-old son, Vasilis Giokaris, back to All Saints Grammar in Belmore yesterday.
Helen Karavitis’ children, Vasilis and Karina, returned to All Saints Grammar yesterday. Photo supplied.
She says home schooling wasn’t bad as the school was ‘so well-prepared,’ but she’s still glad students are allowed back into the classroom to boost their mental health and encourage ‘a sense of normality.’
“The house was quiet. That’s the biggest thing I noticed. But I was really excited for them and they got up really early to get prepared,” Helen says with a laugh.
“I know it’s a big relief for many to have students back at school.”
Now it’s just a matter of finishing the school year on a positive note, with children leaving school grounds every day with big smiles on their faces and blossoming friendships.
As Australia’s population is ageing older adults of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds feel more socially and emotionally isolated.
Projections for the country suggest that there will be four million people aged between 65–84 years by 2022 and industry experts have raised concerns that a structural reform of aged care is necessary to support the so-called ‘Autumn Sunset’ the country is facing.
A pilot research program between Sydney-based organisations SydWest and Western Sydney University’s Humanitarian and Development Research Initiative (HADRI) explores how societal changes affect CALD older adults and what practices should be adopted to enhance their wellbeing.
The CEO of SydWest Multicultural Services, Elfa Moraitakis; HADRI’s Director, Associate Professor Nichole Georgeou and Humanitarian Engineer Spyros Schismenos sat down with The Greek Herald and discussed the findings of their project and how they can be utilised to improve the lives of Australia’s older citizens.
TGH: What are the objectives of this project?
The project entitled, “Better Elder Care: Culturally appropriate care and service provision for older migrants 65+ in Greater Western Sydney”, explores the effects of activities that promote social connectedness on the cultural wellbeing of older migrants from CALD backgrounds to Greater Western Sydney.
Specifically, it aims to explore the impact of the inclusion of creative expression practices that are culturally and linguistically supportive of older migrants, and opportunities for social participation in cultural practices, on older CALD adults’ cultural wellbeing.
We intend to provide recommendations on the adoption of such practices for the enhanced wellbeing of older CALD background migrants in at-home care packages.
TGH:What are the main challenges older CALD adults face and in what way has the pandemic exacerbated them?
The data collection for this research was conducted after the 2020 lockdown. However, key findings of the research pointed to the significance of ‘vital conjunctions’ in the lives of individuals and communities.
These vital conjunctions are not only between people and communities, but also refer to one’s connection to memories, past histories and future aspirations, spirituality, transitional points throughout their lifetime.
Importantly, these conjunctions play a critical role in the individual and collective agency and decision making; they are facilitative of agency in varying degrees, and yet they can also be restrictive and contain the dimensions of conflict and power.
The participants all highlight how maintaining, transforming, or negotiating their sense of connection – being connected to something bigger than themselves – is crucial to their wellbeing.
COVID-19 exacerbated existing barriers experienced by older CALD adults that affect the capability of older adults to access and engage with the essential support and services that contribute to good outcomes and improved quality of life.
Substantial barriers include a lack of English proficiency, limited digital literacy, lack of networking and socializing, and poor understanding of the Australian ‘way of living’ and sociomedical system. Isolation, including practical, social and emotional, loneliness, depression and stigma are common outcomes when older adults from CALD migrant and refugee backgrounds cannot overcome the aforementioned barriers.
The challenges of ageing and barriers faced by older adults had existed long before the pandemic, however, disaster scenarios such as the global spread of COVID-19 significantly escalated their impacts, and increased mortality rates, depression and suicidal thoughts. Identifying and addressing existing barriers, as well as supporting strategies to minimize them could lead to better elder care and improved well-being for older adults.
In the context of this research, one of the current problems its multicultural aged care workers have encountered in their day-to-day operations is that older migrant Australians in Greater Western Sydney struggle to find care that matches their cultural and linguistic needs.
This mismatch in needs impacts on their cultural well-being and physical care because they may not be comfortable to receiving care from carers who they feel do not have a good understanding of their needs.
TGH: Do the barriers differ for older people of established communities compared to the ones from newly formed communities?
Spyros Schismenos: The literature shows that among the more establish migrant communities in Australia like the Greeks and Italians there is more willingness to allow older migrants to be cared for in managed care facilities. Among more recent migrant communities this is less prominent.
There is little differentiation amongst communities’ settlement experiences, apart from English language capability — those with higher levels of English language capability, and those from cultural groups with cultural practices most similar to, or aligned with the host culture, settled more easily than others.
TGH: What are the current issues with funding and quality in aged care services in Australia?
Elfa Moraitakis: There are no significant levels of culturally and linguistically appropriate care of, or consideration for, the needs for older Australian migrants in the aged care sector, particularly in Greater Western Sydney.
The policy settings for aged care packages have meant that the onus of arranging aged care has fallen onto the aged client and their families. When age, language and cultural challenges compound, it often means accessing appropriate care becomes too difficult and overwhelming to navigate. The unintended consequences of changing the way funding is currently accessed and administered has atomised the way that CALD clients interact with SydWest care staff to have their social needs met.
Likewise, the upcoming reforms mean that providers such as SydWest will not be receiving targeted or adequate funding to cater for socially engaging multi-cultural gatherings. Consequentially, older migrants (including refugees) to Australia may face difficulties in finding meaningful social participation and the joyful social aspects of life.
TGH: How will BEC findings support older adults in Western Sydney and nationally as well as internationally?
Census data shows that the population of Greater Western Sydney is ageing, with large growth in the 55-69 year cohort.
The traditional source of migration is UK, and New Zealand and South Africa are also in the top ten, but there is a growing number of older Australians from CALD backgrounds in our area.
Changes to the sources of migration to Australia —particularly migration from China, India, Philippines, Vietnam — means that the people who migrate as business or skilled migrants now will be needing care in 20-30 years times, however little is known about the care needs of this older and potentially vulnerable CALD population.
Their cultural and language needs must be considered in the care that is provided to them, and the service delivery activities that are designed for them.
TGH: Are there any plans for future collaboration projects between SydWest and HADRI?
Director, Associate Professor Nichole Georgeou: HADRI would like to continue working with SydWest Multicultural Services to extend this research to include other ethnic groups and communities.
Working with SydWest allows Western Sydney University to have a positive impact in our community.
While the study is not yet complete, it’s been a great experience to work with communities in Greater Western Sydney, and with SydWest, the largest provider of at home care packages in the region.
The Better Elder Care project has given us a great insight into the things that concern the CALD communities, and we hope that our recommendations will be taken up by the Federal government and hopefully states will follow.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of Eastern Orthodox Christians, was released from a Washington hospital on Monday morning after an overnight stay early in his 12-day visit to the United States.
Bartholomew was brought to George Washington University Hospital on Sunday night after he felt “unwell” due to the long flight and busy schedule of events.
But upon his release, Bartholomew didn’t waste any time getting back to work. On Monday night, he held a meeting with US President Joe Biden in the Oval Office.
“…the Ecumenical Patriarch addressed the urgency of political leaders responding to the climate crisis, the distribution of Covid vaccines to developing nations, and the reopening of Halki Seminary,” Archbishop of America Elpidophoros said about the meeting in a tweet.
Bartholomew with Anthony Blinken.
This meeting followed an earlier discussion between the Ecumenical Patriarch and the US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, at the office of the US State Department.
During this meeting, Bartholomew raised concerns about the plight of Christians in the Middle East, addressed the urgent need for political action in response to climate crisis & emphasised the role of inter-religious dialogue.
Bartholomew meets with US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken.
Later on Monday, Bartholomew is set to attend a dinner at Georgetown University hosted by its president, John DeGioia, and Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Washington DC.
On Thursday, he is scheduled receive an honorary degree from the University of Notre Dame in an event highlighting efforts to improve Orthodox-Catholic ties.
On November 2, he is scheduled to preside at a door-opening ceremony at St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine in New York City. The shrine replaces a church destroyed during the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.
Axel Sidaros could be out of jail by the middle of next year, after he successfully argued for another charge against him to be dropped, according to ABC News.
Sidaros, 25, is the only person convicted over the fiery shoot-out between rival bikies at a Canberra home in 2018.
CCTV footage of the 2018 incident shows three men sneaking into the backyard and then firing into the house of former Comanchero boss Peter Zradkovic. Mr Zradkovic, who lost the top of a finger in the shoot out, can be seen firing back as he runs out of the house.
The incident ended after petrol poured around cars in the drive way ignited and exploded and the men fled.
Former Comancheros boss Peter Zdravkovic. Photo: ABC News.
Sidaros has been through two trials, two appeals, and has employed some of the best lawyers in the country in his effort to beat the charges against him.
He was originally sentenced to 14 years in prison for his involvement in the shoot-out, but that was cut to nine years and nine months after his second trial cleared him of an attempted murder charge.
