A Year 12 student from St John’s College in Preston, Victoria, has tested positive for COVID-19 and the school has now been listed as a Tier 1 exposure site.
In a statement, the school said they are “currently following all advice from the Victorian Government State Government, the Department of Human and Health Services as well as Independent Schools Victoria in responding to the COVID-19 positive case within the school.”
From a billiard table to comfortable chairs where people can chill and listen to music, the new youth centre at Saints Raphael, Nicholas and Irene Greek Orthodox Church in Liverpool, Sydney, will not disappoint.
Parish priest, Father Asterios, came up with the idea for a new youth centre as he wanted to provide a place for young people to connect and socialise on the grounds of the church.
“The response has been very, very positive. We’ve had many people wanting to support this initiative,” Father Asterios tells The Greek Herald, adding that he’d like to thank the Australian Byzantine Choir for their generous donation towards the centre.
“It’s a prototype here in Australia… because it’s a facility where young people can come to be in a safe, fun environment.”
With the aim of opening this new youth centre by the beginning of the summer school holidays, Father Asterios decided to reach out to 3D visualiser and designer, Maria Georgiou, to help make his dream a reality.
Mrs Georgiou tells The Greek Herald that Father Asterios sent her a few ideas and images of what he had in mind for the centre, and she was able to work off those to create a ‘multi-purpose space.’
“The main feature of the space is the joinery section with the three circles, which have a couple of meanings,” Mrs Georgiou says.
“One is the Holy Trinity, the three areas there, as well as connecting, it’s circular, it creates some community, and I wanted it to be a space where the youth can come and have fun and relax and make it their own.
“So the furniture and everything in there is all moveable because youth like to move things around and kind of create their own space.”
Mrs Georgiou says she’s really happy to see her design for the youth centre come to fruition and she encourages all youth to attend.
“I think this is such a great initiative… and it’ll be great to see other parishes follow because youth are our future. So hopefully this might spark a bit of a trend and have other parishes look into it and have something that will bring people together.”
Father Asterios agrees and says his personal long-term goal for the Liverpool centre is to have a youth worker on the grounds providing support through various workshops. As a former educator, he also hopes to offer cultural and fine arts programs as an extension of the youth centre one day.
“I just want to thank the committee and everyone for their willingness and support to embrace this initiative and program for the future of our youth and our church,” Father Asterios concludes.
NSW Premier, Dominic Perrottet, is being urged by his top bureaucrats to push for a staggering boost in net migration over five years.
READ MORE: Sydney restaurant owner Jim Kritsotakis facing brunt of staff shortages.
According to NSW government advice seen by The Australian Financial Review, the new Premier has been urged to push for a “national dialogue on an aggressive resumption of immigration levels as a key means of economic recovery and post-pandemic growth.”
“An ambitious national immigration plan similar to Australia’s post-World War II approach would ensure Australia would benefit from skills, investment and population growth,” Mr Perrottet was told in the advice.
The top-secret, politically sensitive document was prepared by the NSW government’s top mandarins as part of an incoming premier’s brief put together by the Department of Premier and Cabinet.
READ MORE: Alex Hawke MP announces increased flexibility for citizenship applicants.
In a sign Mr Perrottet is taking the advice seriously, he said on Monday that the borders need to be opened up amid a “general labour” shortage to ensure a healthy economic recovery.
“If we lose this opportunity, those skilled migrants will go to other countries,” he said. “We won’t get those engineers, those accountants, they’ll commit to other projects.”
Mr Perrottet is pushing to end NSW’s 14-day hotel quarantine system and replace it with a shorter period of home-based isolation, and is also revisiting inbound passenger caps.
“I think by next year we’ll see a very different sort of immigration policy, and I hope we’ll start to see more people coming in and filling those jobs.”
This news comes as the Federal Government delivered the 2020-21 Migration Program in September, including the largest Partner Program in over 25 years by processing in excess of 72,000 places for couples seeking to reunite.
Source: The Australian Financial Review.
Greece’s Foreign Minister, Nikos Dendias, spoke over the phone on Monday with Australia’s Foreign Minister, Marise Payne.
The talks between the two top officials focused on their shared commitment to the International Law of the Sea, to the protection of the environment and to regional developments, Mr Dendias wrote on Twitter.
The two ministers also reaffirmed the two countries’ historic ties on the basis of common values and the Greek Australian diaspora as a bridge between Greece and Australia.
In a 2019 statement announcing Australia’s new Ambassador to Greece, Arthur Spyrou, Marise Payne praised the strong relations between both countries.
“Australia and Greece have an enduring relationship built on strong people-to-people links and bonds forged during both world wars,” Payne wrote in the statement.
“400,000 Australians claim Greek heritage, and this community has made a special contribution to developing and enriching contemporary Australia.”
The recent telephone conversation between the Foreign Ministers is set to only deepen these relations.
In cool, wet conditions on Monday, New South Wales took its first steps out of lockdown, with gyms, cafés and hairdressers opening to the fully vaccinated.
But the weather did not stop people flocking to what they’d missed for nearly four months: gyms were busy, cafés were pumping and there were lines out the door for barbershops.
John Lapouris, who manages Against the Grind in Sydney’s Neutral Bay, told The Australian Financial Review there had been a lot of anxiety ahead of reopening but it was great to be back.
“I think this [rainy] weather has been helping us. It’s a little quieter than what we expected,” he said. “We thought about not reopening, but we ultimately chose to open back up again.”
Mr Lepouris said he had almost gotten used to lockdown and wasn’t sure how he would handle a return to “full tempo.”
His staff were quick to get vaccinated, but there had been nerves about what to say to unvaccinated customers.
“We didn’t want to become police officers, figure out if someone’s been vaccinated or not been vaccinated and chasing away customers we’ve had for years,” Mr Lepouris said.
Luckily though, there were no problems on Monday morning.
For five-year-old, Paris Sarkis, this lockdown has felt like “a million gajillion days” as she welcomed friends to her home.
To celebrate the end of lockdown, she hosted a kids’ high tea party at her home at Condell Park in Sydney’s south-west.
Her mother, Sophia, told ABC News the girls were “over the moon” to be finally reunited.
“Last night my daughter couldn’t sleep, she was counting the hours and was like, ‘Mummy, is it time yet? I can’t wait to see my friends’,” she said.
“This morning when they showed up at the door, they were jumping and hugging each other, screaming out loud.
“It was happy chaos!”
Billy Diacos, who owns the Billy the Greek restaurant in Sydney’s north west, told A Current Affair on Monday night it was ‘fantastic’ to have customers again because it was ‘a long time coming.’
But he said that while he’s back open for business, he’s not yet at full capacity because of lingering COVID-19 restrictions.
“We’ve got to stick to the four-square metre rule,” Mr Diacos said.
“So at the moment we’ve got about 14 people here and that’s about all we’re allowed inside, and outside we’ll most probably have about 10 to 12 people.”
Mr Diacos’ wife built a special reception area at their Dural restaurant, which is where she does all the check-ins for customers who enter.
“We have the QR codes, we have the sign-in books, and we got the customer here showing my wife (his) vaccination certificate,” he said.
The restaurant owner went on and said he’s not concerned about having to turn away people who aren’t vaccinated because he believes his community will “do the right thing.”
Angela Merkel has chosen Athens for one of her last trips before stepping down as chancellor of Germany, Kathimerini understands.
According to sources, Merkel has accepted an invitation extended by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis during a meeting on the sidelines of the EU-Western Balkans Summit in Slovenia last week, with the exact date of the visit still being worked out.
On the practical level, the visit is important as Merkel remains a key player in the European Union until a government is formed and a new chancellor steps in for Berlin.
But it is its symbolic significance that is drawing attention in Greece, where Merkel worked with seven successive prime ministers, including Mitsotakis.
Source: Ekathimerini.
Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, received US Congressman, Gus Bilirakis, in his office at the Maximos Mansion in Athens on Monday for talks that centered on regional developments.
According to reports, the pair also discussed legislation that is currently in the pipeline in the United States that has a bearing on Greek interests, while stressing the excellent relationship between the two countries.
Greece’s role as an ally and a pillar of security and stability in the region was also discussed, as was its role in several regional partnerships.
Bilirakis, a Republican and representative of Florida’s 12th district, is the grandson of Greek migrants and was last week awarded for his contribution to Greece and the Greek diaspora in the United States.
Most recently, he was among 19 members of US Congress who signed a letter addressed to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres urging action against Turkish and Turkish Cypriot attempts to reopen Varosha.
READ MORE: US Congress calls for UN action against Turkey’s Varosha plans.
Source: Ekathimerini.
ABC Everyday reporter Yasmin Jeffrey asked five people from different cultural backgrounds, who all grew up in Australia, to entertain the idea of an anti-racist Australia.
Koko, 29, says she has experienced racism as a Greek-Bajan woman in Australia.
She hopes that Australia will one day accept people of all cultures and backgrounds.
“We’re already so multicultural here, but we won’t be anti-racist until we embrace all cultures and backgrounds and end assimilation,” Koko tells ABC Everyday.
”An anti-racist future would mean not feeling like you have to choose, like you can be everything.”
She wonders what life would be like in an anti-racist world.
“If I lived in an anti-racist world, I think I’d know myself more. I wouldn’t feel like I have to strive to live along the lines of the society that’s been embedded since we started school. I’d be able to embrace everything that makes me, me,” Koko says.
“And what would grow in the absence of [racism]? Would there be less homophobia and sexism and ableism too? What impact would it have on the environment if we listened to the people whose land we’re living on?”
Source: ABC Everyday
Cretan lyra player and musician, Michael Platyrrahos, never fails to disappoint when he gets on a stage and proudly performs his Cretan music. In fact, he was a fan favourite when he went live on The Greek Herald’s Facebook page on September 25 to provide our readers with a little bit of joy in lockdown.
In light of this performance, The Greek Herald sat down with Mr Platyrrahos and found out all about his career and future plans.
I was born in 1977 in Sydney, Australia. My parents are both of Cretan background. I was raised in a family environment where Cretan traditions, music, dance and the Greek language all played a major role in my upbringing and development of my character and as a person.
I started playing the Cretan lyra and singing at 10 years of age. Meeting and being mentored and tutored on a personal level about the secrets and techniques of the Cretan lyra by masters of Cretan music such as Kostas Mountakis and Spiros Sifogiorgakis, was not only a childhood dream but an everlasting inspiration that continues to motivate me even to this day through my line of thought, planning, performance and expressionism.
Each performance is unique and leaves its own impressions and memories. Whether it’s playing at an open outdoor Greek festival, a local tavern or at a concert hall, they are all different in approach and performance yet all very fulfilling from the moment you engage and continue to inspire with your music and legacy.
Having staged numerous concerts with different themes my most sentimental performances, for many emotional reasons that I will treasure for the rest of my life, are performing at the outdoor “panygyri” at my father’s village and inside the Sydney Opera House last year in the fulfilment of a childhood dream.
The music I love and specialise in from a child is traditional music from all over Greece, whether that is from Crete, the Greek islands, Asia Minor or mainland Greece. Discovering and bringing to light the music of these local traditions through contemporary musical expression is what I love the most and find rewarding in the search of these hidden gems of our musical heritage. In turn, by giving them another dimension not only for the preservation of traditional music but it’s succession and longevity into the future.
Patience is a virtue. Do not give up. Everything is at your feet. All resources are a fingertip away, YouTube, iTunes, Spotify, Facebook etc even online lessons can be managed through Zoom with overseas artists.
I had none of the above when I was learning in the 80’s other than LP records and cassette tapes, very minimal resources and delayed VHS tapes coming from overseas as well as no access to teachers or musicians for advice. Yet here I am. If I could do it in the most difficult of circumstances, surely you can.
I would like to thank The Greek Herald for this interview and for the opportunity to feature my music on their Live In Lockdown series on their Facebook page. I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate The Greek Herald on their 95th anniversary of publication and wish them many more returns providing the Greek community with news and media content directly linking all of us with mother Greece.
The hospitality sector in NSW is scrambling to reopen on Monday following the state’s easing of restrictions.
Jim Kritsotakis is the owner of waterfront restaurant Limani at Narrabeen and says his restaurant is facing a stark staff shortage.
“The first Saturday we open I have 60 people booked, and I could have taken more,” he tells the Sydney Morning Herald.
“But I only have three kitchen staff and two waitstaff fully vaccinated, and unless I get more workers I will have to cancel bookings.”
Mr. Kritsotakis has taken extraordinary measures to fill his restaurant with fully-vaccinated bar, kitchen, and waitstaff.
“We have advertised twice and on Gumtree, it has cost us over $600,” he said, “and I only had one email back”.
The shortage could make or break Mr. Kritsotakis’ business.
“We do lunch, dinner, and we have a cafe underneath… I already have 100 bookings for Christmas day, but it depends on how many staff I have at the time.”
The public health advice from the NSW Government says that “businesses will be responsible…to stop unvaccinated people entering premises”, which includes unvaccinated or half-vaccinated staff.
Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows that 80.3 percent of hospitality workers are aged 15-44, the same age bracket that was the second-last eligible for COVID-19 vaccines.
“I know the government has to do the right thing,” said Mr. Kritsotakis, “but for me, one vaccination should be enough as long as they have their second one booked”.
Source: SMH
