Over 1,200 local football fans turned out to the VALO Football Centre in Angle Park on Wednesday night to witness Adelaide Olympic crowned Federation Cup Winners for 2021 after beating Adelaide City 2-1.
The first ten minutes of the match were cagey, as both City and Olympic were feeling their way into the game and unable to sustain possession.
From there, City started to stamp their authority on the game and were creating chances through their young forward line – as Ayoubi and Kasumovic’s silky-footwork was causing headaches for Olympic.
Twenty minutes in and it was still 0-0. On the odd occasion, Olympic were making in-roads, but only through the means of the occasional long-ball.
Photo: Football SA.
City continued to push forward for the remainder of the half, but both teams went into the sheds at 0-0.
Through their talisman Nic Bucco, City took the lead seven minutes into the second half.
Olympic surrendered a free kick on the edge of the box after a misunderstanding between Olympic’s centre-back and keeper – who picked the ball up after a direct pass back. Bucco stepped up and capitalised, as his shot struck the wall and went past the keeper’s right-hand side to give the Black and White’s a deserved lead.
However, despite City’s dominance, Olympic fired themselves back into the Final with a cracker.
Photo: Football SA.
A moment of absolute individual brilliance from Olympic’s Jason Konstandopolous as he controlled the ball on the right wing, cut in and curled his effort into the far left corner-post and in.
With ten minutes remaining, Olympic pounced again after an astonishing, pin-point over-the-top through ball from one of Olympic’s centre backs, saw captain, Fausto Erba, kick a goal. As City’s keeper came to meet it, Erba delicately chipped it over his head and sent the Olympic faithful into hysterics.
From there, it was back and forth, City were desperately surging forward and could have had a penalty. Despite City having the run of play, in the end it was Olympic’s night.
Former police sergeant, Frank Caridi, who attempted to thwart the Bourke St massacre by warning his bosses of James Gargasoulas’ murderous intentions, has launched a high stakes legal battle against Victoria Police.
According to the Herald Sun, Mr Caridi is suing his former employer for negligence claiming he continues to suffer nightmares and post-traumatic stress disorder, and will never work again as a result.
In a statement of claim lodged in the County Court this week, Mr Caridi said he has been unable to work since the January 2017 tragedy in which six people were killed and 27 were injured after Gargasoulas deliberately drove his car into the busy CBD mall.
James Gargasoulas and the Bourke St massacre. Photo: ABC.
Mr Caridi, 56, told the Herald Sun he believes lives would have been saved if his calls to arrest Gargasoulas – over the attempted stabbing murder of his brother the night before – had been acted on earlier.
Instead, he said he was given “ridiculous excuses’’ as to why the critical incident response team (CIRT) would not respond.
“I know the outcome would have been different and lives would have been saved had we acted earlier,’’ Mr Caridi told the Herald Sun.
Frank Caridi. Photo: Jason South.
Court documents state Mr Caridi was aware that Gargasoulos was “erratic, psychotic and had the propensity to cause injury or death” if not immediately arrested, the Herald Sun reports.
Mr Caridi claims Victoria Police was negligent in failing to act upon and disregarding his warnings and he has suffered anxiety and depression as a consequence.
Mr Caridi also said he was treated poorly by Victoria Police in the lead up to giving evidence to the Coronial Inquest into the Bourke St rampage, and has been targeted and vilified for not protecting the “brotherhood” of the police force.
He is claiming compensation for damages and loss of future earnings.
Thousands of anti-vaccine demonstrators protested in Greece’s two largest cities Wednesday against plans to make coronavirus vaccines available to children 15 and older.
The protests took place outside parliament in central Athens and in the northern city of Thessaloniki.
Greek authorities have blamed a recent increase in confirmed virus cases on crowded entertainment venues.
We stand with our brothers in Greece who are against compulsory vaccines and Vaccine passports. Are you waking up people to what is happening. You wont see this on the news.
Under new restrictions, leisure facilities will only be open to people who are vaccinated. A mandatory vaccination policy is planned for workers at care facilities and hospitals.
In Athens, protesters chanted “Hands off our kids” and held up a banner reading “We say no to vaccine poison.”
Just over half of Greece’s population has received at least one vaccine dose. Starting Thursday, people as young as 15 will be allowed to book a vaccination appointment with parental consent.
Nearly two months ago after a cabinet reshuffle, Upper House MLC, Natalie Ward, was called by NSW Premier, Gladys Berejiklian, to serve as Minister for Sport, Multiculturalism, Seniors and Veterans taking over from acting Minister Geoff Lee.
As Sydney is bracing for a lockdown that could stretch for weeks and the state is facing the biggest challenge since the pandemic started, the newly appointed Minister for Multiculturalism spoke to The Greek Herald and thanked the Greek community for their continued cooperation with COVID-19 restrictions in NSW.
I am humbled to have been asked to serve as Minister for Sport, Multiculturalism, Seniors and Veterans in the @GladysB Government. Best birthday present ever, from the best Premier in the world.
TGH:NSW is currently going through turbulent times. What is your message to the state’s multicultural communities?
It is an honour to be the NSW Minister for Multiculturalism and to serve the diverse communities of NSW. I want to thank all of our diverse community leaders for their role in keeping NSW safe over the past 18 months.
These have been, and continue to be, difficult times, but we have also seen the best of human nature.
We have seen people come together across cultural, faith and linguistic backgrounds to support those most vulnerable in our community, in particular our newly arrived migrants, asylum seekers and refugees.
We have witnessed the incredible generosity of so many volunteer-run multicultural community organisations, providing direct emergency relief and support to members of the community who need it most.
Although we are still navigating challenging times, we know that as a community we are stronger and more resilient when we unite and work together.
TGH: The NSW Budget was handed down nearly a month ago and some parties have criticised it for the lack of specific support to multicultural communities. What is your opinion on this?
The NSW Government continues to invest in support of multicultural communities through our agency Multicultural NSW.
In the 2021-22 NSW Budget we announced $8.5 million over three years to continue important support programs for refugee, new and emerging communities.
Additionally, the NSW Government announced $1 million to revolutionise digital-based interpreting services and improve accessibility in remote areas.
To celebrate #RefugeeWeek, we were thrilled that our Minister @natwardmlc announced $8.5 million over three years to support programs that will help refugees, newly arrived migrants and emerging communities to thrive! pic.twitter.com/qvJPX8p3ck
Last financial year, the NSW Government invested $20 million through Study NSW for international students in response to severe financial and existential hardship during the pandemic. Further, a total of $10 million was invested for new and emerging communities with specialised supports for vulnerable temporary visa holders, and for the continuation of refugee programs and emergency relief for asylum seekers.
Last year, Multicultural NSW provided $1.1 million to support more than 220 grassroots multicultural community projects responding to COVID-19. These are some of the initiatives we are undertaking.
TGH: In your inaugural speech, four years ago, you mentioned that your “work as a lawyer exposed you to the reality of the hardships faced by people from many different cultural and social backgrounds.” What are the hardships you were referring to and how are you planning to change things for the better?
Financial, mental health, family and social hardships cut across all facets of our community, regardless of your background.
However, we know newly arrived migrants can face special challenges. These challenges come with settling into a new country, adjusting to a new language, financial hardship and in some instances, managing trauma from war and political conflict overseas.
We have seen COVID-19 exacerbate existing hardships for many members of our community.
The NSW Government will continue to listen to the needs of our diverse communities to understand how we can best support them.
TGH:During the pandemic ethnic newspapers have been the lifeline for first generation migrants as they connect them to their respective communities and keep them informed and engaged with the news in Australia. Do you see a role for community papers in the future?
I commend the vital role of multicultural media outlets in our society. Multicultural media outlets are sources of credible news and information, and represent hubs of connection for our diverse communities.
This has been especially apparent during the pandemic. Multicultural media outlets have been critical in sharing vital public health information with their audiences and communities.
These audiences often represent demographics more vulnerable to the effects of the virus and who speak languages other than English, which has made communicating with these audiences through multicultural media even more important.
Last year, the NSW Government awarded multicultural media grants of more than $250,000 to recognise the vital work of multicultural media outlets and recognise the strain they have been under during the pandemic.
TGH: Apart from your role as a Minister you are also a mother of two, a wife and an advocate for women in sports and in politics. Why would you encourage more women to enter the political arena?
I believe diverse representation is very important in all aspects of political, economic, social and cultural life, as this reflects the make-up of society.
In order to truly understand the challenges, experiences and perspectives of the people we serve, we need to have representation from all voices.
When diverse groups participate and are engaged in discussions and decision-making in any sector, it ensures greater responsiveness to community needs and better accountability to all groups. It’s also required to inspire younger generations with role models they can relate to and see themselves in. Ultimately, diverse representation helps to create inclusive, well-functioning societies.
📣 Share COVID safe information in #Greek to keep your community safe
— NSW Multicultural Health Communication Service (@mhcsnsw) July 9, 2021
TGH: Is the anything you would like to add?
I would like to thank the Greek Herald team for your important contribution to our Greek Australian community in NSW.
Now more than ever, we need to continue hearing from diverse voices in the Australian media. With almost 100 years of history, the Greek Herald continues to make a rich contribution to our community.
I also want to thank the entire readership of the Greek Herald and the wider Australian – Greek community for their continued cooperation with COVID-19 restrictions in NSW.
With the support of all members of our community, we will be able to continue navigating our response to the pandemic in the best interests of all people of NSW.
As multicultural communities continue to face unique challenges as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the NSW Government is providing much needed support through COVID-19 Community Support Grants.
Grants of $5,000 are now available for organisations providing essential services to culturally and linguistically diverse groups.
This funding aims to support a broad range of culturally, linguistically, and religiously diverse stakeholders who are looking for ways to continue or start community programs to provide food, transport and language support to vulnerable cohorts.
Applications must address how they are providing one of the following:
1) Immediate community care support – to provide culturally appropriate care to vulnerable and isolated people. This includes programs that focus on seniors, mental health and building community connection.
2) Overcoming language barriers – to enable volunteer and charitable organisations to overcome language and cultural barriers to connect with essential support services available to the community during COVID-19.
Grants close this Thursday, July 15 and you can apply HERE.
Peter Poulos is the owner of Christos’ Pizzeria and recalls his experience as one of the first cases of COVID-19 in NSW’s current outbreak.
Mr. Poulos was having dinner with his father-in-law and wife at his pizzeria in Sydney’s inner-west suburb of Paddington one Monday on June 21.
Little did he know that NSW Health would call two days later to advise that he and his wife were close contacts of a confirmed COVID-19 case and to self-isolate immediately.
“We didn’t think it was going to happen to us,” he tells the Sydney Morning Herald.
Poulos closed his pizzeria that day and ordered his staff to do the same – get tested and self-isolate – but it wasn’t until Saturday that things would turn for the worse when he woke up with a dull headache.
Christos’ Pizza in Sydney’s Paddington got caught up in the Delta outbreak late last month (Source: Google Maps)
“I don’t get headaches,” he says, recalling that he thought, “‘That’s strange’.”
“And then I started getting the fevers and chills.”
His wife, suffering the same symptoms, spent half the day in bed.
His 89-year-old father-in-law coughed so incessantly that he wound up in hospital on an oxygen tank within a few days.
It was a rough time for Poulos: getting his temperature, oxygen levels and heart rate measured daily by doctors at NSW Health.
A cough developed after about two weeks but disappeared within a few days along with the rest of his symptoms.
His father, Christo, who founded the pizzeria 35 years ago in 1986, died from other causes during the first lockdown.
Emotional support visits are hard to maintain during a lockdown and Mr. Poulos is no stranger to the difficulties of these restrictions, but he continues to support his widowed 92-year-old mother without complaints.
“It is what it is,” he said.
His business has taken a significant hit since the pandemic began 18 months ago.
In accordance with NSW Health advice, he and his wife emerged from isolation three days after their symptoms disappeared. Then they went back to work.
Kayla Itsines and Tobi Pearce have sold off Sweat to US software giant iFIT Health & Fitness Inc.
Ms. Itsines says the deal has “opened the door to an exciting new future” for the brand.
“Sweat has had an incredible journey from our humble beginnings training women one-on-one in my Adelaide backyard to launching the Sweat app in 2015 to now joining the iFIT family,” she said.
They sold the company for $400m; that’s about $100 million more than sources who are familiar with the deal allege it’s worth, the Daily Telegraph reports.
The pair will continue to lead Sweat in Adelaide as a stand-alone brand within the Utah-based iFIT group.
Kayla Itsines and Toby Pearce (Source: YouTube)
iFIT is a health and fitness technology company founded in 1989 which delivers workout sessions that integrate with the company’s fitness equipment range.
Mr. Pearce says he’s proud to see the business enter the international market.
“Kayla and I have had a very strong and long working relationship and this is the beginning of chapter two for both of us,” he said.
“I’m very much looking forward to a bigger and better Sweat – our headquarters will remain in Adelaide and we have a second office in Melbourne and that will reman there as well.”
Personal trainers Itsines and her former fiancé Pearce found themselves making international headlines after launching the fitness empire six years ago in 2015.
Since then, the Sweat app has been downloaded more than 30 million times and the company generated close to $100 million in the year to June 2020 alone.
More than half of that revenue came from the US while $8.7m came from Australian subscribers.
Sweat recorded a $5.4m loss in 2020.
Last year, the Young Rich List valued the couple at a net worth of $209 million each.
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking of Japan has become the latest major bank ensnared by an alleged fraud carried out by Sydney-based firm, Forum Finance, with an exposure of nearly $100 million.
According to The Australian Financial Review, the bank’s leasing division, SMBC Leasing and Finance, had filed a claim to the Federal Court seeking consent to appoint a liquidator to Forum Enviro, which is part of the Forum Group of companies.
Basile Papadimitriou, better known as Bill Papas, is named as a defendant.
Court documents have confirmed an exposure of $98.9 million to Sumitomo Mitsui in the legal action against Forum Enviro and Mr Papas, the Australian Financial Reviewreports.
Sumitomo Mitsui has applied for freezing orders to be placed on Mr. Papas and is seeking damages for “the tort of unlawful means conspiracy” and “in deceit”.
According to the newspaper, along with the $285 million alleged by Westpac and a further $9 million by French bank Société Générale, the total exposure of the alleged fraud is getting close to $400 million. Humm Group also told the sharemarket it had a potential exposure of around $12 million.
Sumitomo Mitsui was not immediately available for comment by the AFR.
Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, and Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs, Alex Hawke MP, have met with senior leaders from Sydney’s multicultural communities to listen to their concerns about Sydney’s COVID-19 outbreak.
During the ‘Sydney Community Leaders’ Forum, Mr Morrison and Mr Hawke also discussed the recent support being made available by the Australian Government, and thanked the community leaders for their vital work in keeping their communities and all Australians safe.
“We reiterated the Government’s advice to communities affected by COVID-19 outbreaks – stay home, get tested, isolate yourself and get vaccinated. And we asked community leaders to continue to share that message as a matter of priority,” Mr Hawke said in a press release.
Scott Morrison and Alex Hawke MP have met with senior leaders from Sydney’s multicultural communities.
Forum participants raised issues including countering online misinformation, vaccine hesitancy, the importance of communicating to communities in their language and gaining access to Government support, such as the Australian Government COVID-19 Disaster Payments. Many offered their own community centres as vaccination and testing hubs.
In response, Mr Hawke stressed that all new Government material regarding the evolving COVID-19 situation – including on the vaccination rollout and support packages the government is providing – is distributed to all community organisations, in English and up to 63 community languages.
“The Government’s national vaccines campaign includes advertising translated in 32 languages and is targeted at multicultural audiences across radio, print, online and social media channels,” Mr Hawke stated in his press release.
Prime Minister, Scott Morrison.
“Furthermore, the Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia, the Migration Council of Australia, the Settlement Council of Australia, and the Multicultural Youth Advisory Network are also helping to disseminate key COVID-19 vaccine information to their multicultural networks and communities.”
The Government also recently announced a $1.2 million COVID-19 small grants program to support multicultural community groups to design and lead grass roots communication activities, tailored to meet the needs of their communities.
Archbishop Makarios of Australia urges Sydney faithful to get vaccinated:
His Eminence Archbishop Makarios of Australia is also doing his part to spread COVID-19 stay at home orders with a message of support to the Greek Orthodox community in Sydney.
In his message, Archbishop Makarios said that it is our duty “not to leave anyone alone in the crisis,” and encouraged people to get vaccinated against COVID- 19 “in order to achieve the best possible control of the pandemic.”
Archbishop Makarios of Australia.
“Unfortunately, Australia has one of the lowest rates of people who are vaccinated among the population compared to other countries in the world,” Archbishop Makarios writes in the message.
“We must not forget that vaccination constitutes an act of self-protection, but, primarily, it is an act of love and solidarity for our family, community, and the wider society to which we belong.”
Archbishop Makarios then went on to encourage the faithful to reach out to the Greek Welfare Centre on (02) 9516 2188, their local parish or the offices of the Holy Archdiocese if they are in need of any kind of support.
“I urge all Greeks, and every person of good will, to mobilise all their reserves of love and compassion in order to create a strong net of protection for those who are suffering and in need,” Archbishop Makarios said.
Residents in Greater Sydney will remain in lockdown for “at least” another two weeks until 11:59 pm on Friday 30 July, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has announced.
The NSW Premier warned residents to prepare for a longer lockdown into August despite the two-week extension.
“We can’t afford any setbacks,” NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian warned.
All current restrictions, as well home learning, will remain until at least Friday 30 July.
NSW recorded 97 new locally-acquired cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8 pm last night, of which 24 were infectious while in the community.
That’s from over 65,000 tests overnight.
NSW recorded 97 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night. pic.twitter.com/YfNptxyua5
The main cases of community transmission are families and workplace contacts.
70 out today’s 97 cases were in south-west Sydney with three quarters coming from the Fairfield local government area (LGA).
Mobility is still high in the Canterbury-Bankstown and Liverpool areas, with the “vast majority” of cases still coming from south-west Sydney, Premier Berejiklian and chief health officer Kerry Chant announced.
The main areas of concern are Fairfield, Roselands, Rosebury, Canterbury, Belmore, Sutherland Shire, the St George area, Windsor, St Ives, Penrith, and the Bayside LGA.
71 people are in hospital with COVID-19 at the moment, with 20 in the ICU.
The COVID-19 support package announced yesterday by the Commonwealth and NSW governments is designed to assist residents and businesses affected by the lockdown and will be available for other states which find themselves in a lockdown for three weeks.
The package includes mandatory mediation, a 60-day pause to forced evictions of residential tenants, and up to $1500 for eligible landlords and tenants.
