Philip Dalidakis, who is a former Victorian Minister for Innovation and the Digital Economy, has launched a new corporate advisory firm, Orizontas, with two partners.
Dalidakis, along with co-founders Patrick Gibbons and Vanessa Liell, hope the new firm will provide clients with political, climate, business and communications advice.
Gibbons is a former diplomat, policy advisor and business consultant, while Liell was recently the executive director of Commtrac.
Philip Dalidakis.
Dalidakis, who is also a former executive General Manager of corporate services at Australia Post, says there’s no better time than the present to open the firm.
“We believe now is the right time to open an advisory firm that is solutions-led, values-based, authentic and honest – focused on market, climate, political and reputational risk,” Dalidakis told AdNews.
Orizontas also announced the inaugural members of its advisory board on Friday, including the former Premier of Victoria Ted Baillieu, C-Suite executive Annette Carey and entrepreneur Kee Wong.
In a powerful Instagram Q&A on Tuesday, Nick Kyrgios has opened up on his mental health struggles during the tennis tour in the hopes he can break stigmas around the issue.
Kyrgios shared how during his darkest times he self-harmed on the tour.
“No one knows what I’ve gone through, all the struggles I’ve overcome,” Kyrgios said, according to The Australian.
Nick Kyrgios.
“I’ve self-harmed, was having dark thoughts about life. I always have my back and have all the confidence in the world. I lean on my loved ones.”
Kyrgios added that he struggles the most with being away from home and his family, and that he is happier when back in Canberra.
Kyrgios opens up about her mental health battles.
“I pushed everyone who was close to me away and I fell out with people and that’s something I’d never want again,” the 26-year-old said.
Kyrgios recently won the Australian Open men’s doubles title with Thanasi Kokkinakis. He is currently in the USA where he is expected to contest a number of tournaments before heading to Chile.
Greek Finance Minister, Christos Staikouras, told Reuters on Monday that Greece will repay the final portions of bailout loans owed to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by the end of March, two years ahead of schedule.
Greece received more than 260 billion euros in bailout loans from the European Union and the IMF during the decade-long financial crisis. It has exclusively relied on bond markets for its financing needs since leaving its third bailout in 2018.
Since 2018, it has made multiple early repayments to the IMF and now owes 1.9 billion euros in loans by 2024. This amount is the last batch of a total of 28 billion euros that the Washington-based fund provided to Greece between 2010 and 2014.
“Greece has officially submitted a request for the full prepayment of the outstanding balance of its IMF loans. The relevant procedure has been launched and is expected to be completed at the end of March,” Staikouras told Reuters in an interview.
With public debt seen at almost 190 percent of gross domestic product this year, Greece remains the euro region’s most indebted nation.
The repayment is expected to help the nation’s capital, Athens, reduce the debt by 1 percent and save almost 50 million euros in interest payments.
Staikouras stated that despite the increase in spending to cope with the impact of COVID-19, Greece has implemented “a prudent and responsible fiscal policy and an insightful debt issuing strategy.”
Staikouras said stronger growth and higher budget revenues will allow the country to return next year to a surplus in the primary budget, which excludes debt servicing costs.
“Regarding 2023 onwards, we will shift towards the achievement of realistic primary surpluses,” he said.
An aged care home in Melbourne once operated by a business linked to two bankrupt Greek Australian brothers is set to sell,The Australian reports.
Chronos Care, which owns aged care homes in Alphington and Mount Eliza, was set up by Chris and Gerry Apostolatos in 2014, just months before they were banned from running a business and declared bankrupt owing $5 million.
Chris Apostolatos was declared bankrupt with debts of more than $2.46 million and just $600 in the bank. Gerry Apostolatos owed $2.55 million to creditors.
The pair were also fined and banned from the poultry industry for a combined total of 17 years after pleading guilty to serious animal cruelty charges over the mistreatment of more than a million chickens.
Brothers Chris (front) and Gerry Apostolatos were found guilty of animal cruelty in 2015. Credit: Jason South.
According to The Australian, the brothers continued to hold an interest in Chronos Care via a family trust and Gerry Apostolatos’ stepdaughter, Rita Kohu, who acted as company director.
Ms Kohu put Chronos Cafe into administration on July 30, 2021. Residents were later turfed out of the aged care home.
The sale of the Alphington property, which the Chronos Group leased, is set to net $9 million, which will flow to landlords. Liquidators are seeking to offload the assets of the aged-care home as part of an auction.
Efstratia Mavrapidou, one of the three Greek grandmothers who became a symbol of solidarity with refugees on the island of Lesvos, has passed away at the age of 96.
Efstratia was also a child of refugees that fled to Lesvos from Asia Minor in the early 1920s.
Efstratia, along with Militsa (Emilia) Kamvysi and Maritsa Mavrapidou, became famous in 2015 when a local photographer captured them helping a young Syrian mother who had just landed on the shores of Lesvos island after making the treacherous crossing from Turkey.
Efstratia Mavrapidou at her home in the village of Skala Sikaminias, Lesvos. Photo: Kainaz Amaria/NPR.
Despite their advanced ages, Efstratia, Militsa and Maritsa went down to the shore daily to help other volunteers assist the refugees who were arriving at the time.
All three were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2016.
Greece’s President, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, had the privilege of meeting Efstratia and Militsa at their homes in 2020, along with their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Maritsa died in January 2019 at the age of 92, but Militsa, also 92, is still alive today.
Greece’s government received parliamentary approval on Tuesday for a 3 billion euro agreement for three new French-made frigates, Skai.gr reports.
The majority of lawmakers also agreed to add six new Rafale fighter jets to an existing order for 18 planes – six of them newly built and 12 that were previously in service in the French air force.
Greek Defense Minister, Nikos Panagiotopoulos, told the Parliament on Tuesday night that the Greek military needs to modernise following repeated funding cuts during the country’s acute 2010-18 financial crisis.
Παρέμβαση #ΥΕΘΑ Νικόλαου Παναγιωτόπουλου για την αποδοχή τροπολογιών που προτάθηκαν επί του Σχεδίου Νόμου του @Hellenic_MOD : «Για την ενίσχυση της αμυντικής θωράκισης της χώρας» https://t.co/MrBMZzXc4A
“There is no armament program that is ‘slightly necessary’ or ‘somewhat necessary’,” Panagiotopoulos said during the committee-level debate.
“All of the armament programs that we have submitted for approval, in one way or another, are absolutely necessary for the armed forces – extremely necessary, urgently necessary.”
According to Ekathimerini, the left-wing main opposition party supported the purchase of the new French frigates but was not prepared to give the government “carte blanche” regarding armaments spending.
Το νομοσχέδιο του Υπουργείου Εθνικής Άμυνας για την ενίσχυση της αμυντικής θωράκισης της χώρας, το οποίο ψηφίζουμε σήμερα, είναι μία αμυντική επιλογή με πολιτικό περιεχόμενο, όπως και μία εθνική απόφαση με διεθνή προσανατολισμό. #Βουληhttps://t.co/WnVXDDSMhNpic.twitter.com/JRVnU05vyp
Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, and French President, Emmanuel Macron, finalised the frigate deal last year along with an enhanced defence cooperation agreement between their countries.
Made by France’s Naval Group, two warships are due to be delivered in 2025 and the third the following year, with an option to add a fourth frigate to be ready in 2027.
Greece’s Foreign Ministry on Monday summoned the Ukrainian ambassador to deliver a demarche requesting clarifications over the death of an ethnic Greek and the serious injury of two more in an incident involving Ukrainian soldiers in the country’s east on Tuesday.
The fatal incident took place in the village of Granitna near the front-line of the conflict with pro-Russian separatist forces.
According to a statement by the Foreign Ministry, Ukrainian Ambassador Shutenko Sergii expressed his sincere condolences to the families of the victims, stating that there was no political or ethnic motive behind the incident.
Εκλήθη @GreeceMFA ο Πρέσβης της Ουκρανίας στην Ελλάδα κ. Sergii Shutenko, στον οποίο πραγματοποιήθηκε διάβημα για το σοβαρό επεισόδιο που σημειώθηκε στο χωριό Γράνιτνα της Αν. Ουκρανίας και είχε ως αποτέλεσμα, τον θάνατο και τον τραυματισμό ομογενών. https://t.co/BjUojHOmXC
Ambassador Sergii said that two Ukrainian citizens died, one of whom was an ethnic Greek, while two were seriously injured.
Those responsible have been arrested and will be brought to justice, he added.
This comes after The Federation of Greek Societies in Ukraine issued a statement on Facebook on Monday night urging Greek media to avoid spreading “fake information” about the incident.
Ανησυχούμε εξαιρετικά για οποιαδήποτε πιθανή κλιμάκωση στην Ουκρανία. Υπάρχει ελληνική κοινότητα 150.000 ατόμων που ζουν εκεί. Έχουν υποφέρει πάρα πολύ από αυτή την κρίση. Μόλις χθες, υπήρξαν νεκροί ανάμεσά τους, σε άσχετο περιστατικό που αφορούσε Ουκρανούς στρατιώτες.
“The clash, which took place at night at a local café had absolutely nothing to do with the worsening situation at the contact line between the parties, nor with any [form of] military persecution of the local population, as imagined by certain Greek bloggers,” the statement said.
Greece has issued an advisory urging its nationals to avoid travelling to Ukraine and calling on any Greeks there to leave “immediately” in the face of fears that Russia, which has massed forces near Ukraine’s borders, could soon invade.
As our interview begins, National Museum director Doctor Mathew Trinca, asks me how to correctly pronounce my tongue twisting Greek name.
Due to his upbringing, he understands that pronouncing one’s name correctly is more than important and a common courtesy. It can be representative of one’s culture, heritage, race and overall identity.
The son of an Italian stone-mason who migrated to Australia and to an Australian-born mother of Italian heritage, Dr Trinca and his three sisters were brought up in a family melding an Italian background with Australian life on the outskirts of a city in Western Australia, not far from the bush.
We start chatting about the beauties of rural Australia and the skies above the Central Australian desert in the Northern Territory, some of the only places in the world to see the southern hemisphere night sky at its clearest.
“When you are in rural and regional Australia, you get a very different sense of Australian life,” he says.
Growing up, Mr Trinca never thought he would end up living in Canberra and being director of the National Museum of Australia but he attributes what he has achieved so far -both in his career but most importantly in life- to the values his parents instilled in him.
A trained historian with a PhD in Australian history from the University of Sydney he joined the National Museum as a senior curator in 2003, after working at the Western Australian Museum in Perth. From 2006, he was the Museum’s assistant director, Collections, Content and Exhibitions and then became the director in 2014.
Passionate about ancient history and the stories that weave together to make up Australian life he talks proudly about the ‘Ancient Greeks: Athletes, Warriors and Heroes’ exhibition and how the museum’s 250 strong staff managed to overcome the challenges caused by the pandemic to bring it together.
“It’s been a testing time. We have to understand, as well, there’s many people in the country who’ve had much more challenging times than us like our health workers…also recording the experiences of people in these two years has been so important,” he says.
1/2 Bringing our current exhibition, ‘Ancient Greeks' across the world during a pandemic has been a complex task. It has involved navigating international border closures, rethinking our traditional install procedures, and juggling display schedules. pic.twitter.com/6X49nCPIEc
“That has really kept me going. And the quality and the sheer commitment of the staff of the museum.”
With the same sentiment he talks about Australia’s Greek community and how its members got together to help make the exhibition happen and embraced it.
“We wouldn’t be seeing the success of this exhibition the way we are, even in these tough times, without that support from the Greek Australian community. I can’t tell you what it has meant to make the friends and connection that we’ve made through this. It doesn’t happen with every showing,” he says.
“The pride and expression of interest and ownership that I’ve seen from the Greeks is notable. This show is the show it is because of their involvement.”
The exhibition as a connection of the past to the future
Despite lockdowns and interstate border restrictions that heavily impacted not only the National Museum but institutions nationwide, more than 40,000 people visited the exhibition in January to admire the exhibits that showcase the competitive spirit of the Ancient Greek world through sport, politics, drama, music and warfare.
“You see, and you make connection with the essential elements of human spirit and how those things that drive us, propel us forward in our lives today were present in the human condition 3,000 years ago,” says Mr Trinca.
“We live in a completely different world from that of ancient or classical Greece. Yet, at the level of the human spirit, you see the commonalities.”
When I ask him about the importance of this exhibition to Australia the Museum director says that “the contribution that the Greek peoples have made to Australian life is extraordinary”.
“When you think about the ancient classical Greek world and what it then inspired in other parts of the world, it’s almost impossible to think of a sphere of human life where there hasn’t been some impact of Greek culture,” he says.
“We almost have to know something about the ancient Greek world, if we’re to make sense of our communities and our lives today.
“I think it’s important for all people to have some sense of what they’ve come from to make sense of their present, and where they might be going in the future,” says Mr Trinca highlighting that greater numbers of young people come to exhibitions compared to a decade ago.
Ancient artefacts that continue to captivate
The exhibition features more than 170 objects from the British Museum’s collection of Greek treasures, with artefacts dating from 800 BCE to 200 CE but two are Mr Trinca’s favourites.
The pieces are a black-figured amphora (wine-jar) depicting Achilles slaying Penthesilea by potter Exekias and the marble relief of the Apotheosis of Homer signed by the sculptor Archelaos of Priene.
“I suppose, because in both cases I prevailed on my counterpart at the British Museum to include them in the exhibition,” he says.
‘Ancient Greeks: Athletes, Warriors and Heroes’ is now open!
Explore competition in sport, politics, drama, music, society and warfare in the ancient Greek world through more than 170 objects from the British Museum.
“It’s a deeply moving thing to see that someone, thousands of years ago, has created something of such beauty that you can respond to in the present. And, that’s all through this exhibition.”
As we wrap up this interview, I am thinking that we are lucky as a community to be able to admire pieces from our home country’s ancient history in Australia, the country that gave us the opportunity to flourish while keeping our language, faith and heritage alive.
But also, lucky because the country’s National Museum director is of Italian heritage, has spent his childhood in rural Australia, reads Homer and makes the effort to pronounce people’s names correctly.
Because how can you tell the different stories of Australia if you don’t know its people?
A new ‘revisionist’ historical fiction novel from Billy Cotsis, tells a tale of how Athens lost the Parthenon Marbles and how a newly formed posse featuring Lord Byron, the Aegean Seven, take them back.
Billy Cotsis has certainly had a colourful literary career, covering Greeks living in dozens of countries. He has written about Hellenes in books, articles, presented on Meraki TV and in award-winning documentaries such as Mykonos: the other side and the Magna Graecia series.
At last count, Cotsis had made his way to almost 60 countries and 79 Greek islands, drawing on the inspiration from people he has met and some of their stories to craft novels such as Once Upon A Time in Crystal Palace and 1453: Constantinople & The Immortal Rulers.
It is the latter book, with a mix of historical facts and revisionist history, that set the foundation of his new work.
“I wanted to write a story based on the timeline of actual events that led to the theft of artefacts from the Parthenon and other parts of Greece in the early 1800s, a period that coincides with the movement towards the Greek Revolution – the book ends in 1817 as things are progressing for Filiki Eteria,” Cotsis says.
The fast-paced dramedy, provides the reader with an entry point to a range of historical milestones in Europe between 1801-1817 and set against the backdrop of the looming Greek Revolution.
“As the journey to recover the Marbles unfolds, the reader will see a few points about the Filiki Eteria and how it came about. I have visited their Headquarters in Odessa, Ukraine, which helped inspire me to draw on the looming Greek Revolution into the novel,” the author explains.
Credit: Georgios Kollidas.
Throughout the novel, Cotsis also provides the background on all key players involved with the removal of artefacts from the Parthenon. Aside from an Earl from ‘Elgin’ who doubles up as the British Ambassador to the Ottomans, a Neapolitan artist, a Reverend and the wealthy wife of the Earl, are all complicit with the removal of items from Greece. As karma would have it, they all suffer various unfortunate fates which came to light in the novel.
The Stolen Marbles and artefacts lead to a series of twists and turns that seemingly brings together, the ‘Aegean Seven’ to help reunite the artefacts with their homeland. The Aegean Seven are a composite group of Hellenes and Phil-Hellenes such as Lord Byron.
Along the way, the Aegean Seven stumble across an array of important historical figures in Europe as they cross Greece, Alexandria, Cyrene, Romania, Italy, Geneva, France and London. He even introduces readers to the Greek towns, Greko/Griko of Southern Italy, which still exist to this day.
Credit: Bruce Whittingham.
The Aegean Seven is led by Alcibiades and Melina. Other characters include Eleftheria from the real Greko town of Galliciano, Calabria. This is significant as the writer is trying to draw to the attention of the English-speaking reader what and who the Greko and Griko are. There are numerous references to the towns in Calabria and Apulia including a chapter devoted to the region.
Other characters are from the Greek-founded Alexandria and Cyrene in Africa, where Alcibiades and Melina visit, an appearance by the legendary Bouboulina on her ship and the brilliant poet, Lord Byron. The poet, of course, was a sworn enemy of the Earl in real life and made sure all of Europe was aware of what Thomas did in Athens.
“Byron knew that Bruce had stolen the Marbles. He was devastated and he made sure people were learned of this betrayal. Make no mistake, Bruce betrayed his position as an Ambassador, and he betrayed the good people of Scotland and England due to his appalling actions. Scottish people are known to be kind and fair, Bruce was the antithesis of Scottish. He was a monster,” Cotsis says.
Cotsis wrote the novel as a way to draw attention to the fact the Marbles were taken from Greece with a fake Firman (a permit from the Sultan) and why the Marbles need to come home.
Cotsis explains the Earl, otherwise known as Thomas Bruce, was unworthy as an Ambassador, as an Earl or as a human being.
The novel eventually takes the Aegean Seven to London and a showdown for the Marbles. The writer describes it as An Ocean’s Eleven minus Brad Pitt meets Dan Brown, Byron and Thucydides. It’s similar in style to Cotsis’ previous historical fiction, 1453: Constantinople & the Immortal Rulers.
For those who want to know more about this period and how the Marbles were taken, despite many of the characters being purely fiction, the novel lays out what happened and how it happened on the eve of the Greek Revolution and freedom. There is of course no freedom for the Marbles until they return to Athens.
The writer goes on to explain he hopes not to tread on the toes of the Committees worldwide and in Australia who work hard lobbying for the Marbles’ return.
“I’m just a writer taking in a range of histories from the era. The Aegean Seven is a novel with some controversy as it involves a reverse heist and some violence. I did not want the novel to be a burden to those who work hard on the restoration committees,” he says.
Once the book finds a home on shelves worldwide, Cotsis, along with his filmmaker friend Basil Genimahaliotis, will release their third Magna Graecia documentary, which is set in the Greko towns of Calabria. This is to help raise awareness of this ancient language with a call to action for Hellenes to learn more about the Greko and Griko (Apulia) and to find ways to support them.
The Aegean Seven Take Back the “Elgin” Marbles is available through the Greek Bilingual Bookshop https://bilingualbookshop.com.au/, Amazon, Belmore and Kingsgrove Newsagencies and anywhere else a good Greek book is sold on demand.
*Billy Cotsis is the author of the 1453: Constantinople & the Immortal Rulers.
By Antonios Dolmas’ granddaughters – Maria Dalamaras and Polyxeni Kerasis.
Antonios Dolmas was a great man. He was dearly loved by his children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and the wider Greek Community. Although he came from simple beginnings, Antonios worked as a bricklayer and held a long withstanding reputation within the Greek community for helping people with their building extensions and renovations. Hard work and determination characterised this strong and loving father, grandfather and great-grandfather.
He was born to Emanuel Dolmas and Irini Toutounis in a small village north of Greece, Domatia, on February 5, 1944. His childhood was best described as humble and wondrous; while their family got on by what meagre money they made from their tobacco farm, young Antonios helped on the farm and played in the nearby farm fields. The time spent with his father cultivated a love for the outdoors that would stay with Antonios for his entire life. Antonios shared his childhood with his siblings: Stelios, Yiannis, Dimitrakis, Theodora and Nikos.
In 1960, in a nearby village, Ofrinio, whilst Antonios was visiting his brother, he met the love of his life Polyxeni whom he would later marry. A brief break from love, he went on to serve the military army and finished his services in 1965. In 1967, Antonios married Polyxeni in the church of Saint Konstantinos and Helen in Attica (Brachami). The love story continued, and the couple welcomed two children, Irene and Maria.
Antonios and his family migrated to Lakemba, Sydney for a better life. He embarked in a bricklaying career, building homes and friendships until his retirement. Antonios’ passion for outdoors, drove him North of Sydney to a small rural town called Krambach. Here he purchased a large piece of land where he would go on to build a small holiday house- all by himself. He would frequently visit Nabiac Hotel were he went on to make new friends.
Antonios pursued his many endeavours diligently and always rose to meet a challenge. In the early hours of the morning, he would be out in his veggie patch. Harvesting and sharing his home-grown veggies with anyone he crossed paths with. He would spend hours preparing wine and went on to share this with everyone that would visit him. Antonios was a keen honey collector, he would patiently and eagerly wait for honey to be produced and would happily gift his homegrown honey.
As the years grew, so did the family; Antonios’ daughter Irene married Paul who soon later welcomed Antonios’ first granddaughter Maria, and after a few more years, his second granddaughter Polyxeni.
His proudest moment was when he became a great-grandfather to Gregorio and then Paul. Antonios would regularly visit his great-grandchildren showering them with love and gifts. Antonios was soon re-named ‘Pappou Doni’ by his eldest grandson, Gregorio.
Antonios was a social person, his favourite local spots to visit were The Belmore Hotel and The Lakemba Greek Community Club. He frequently travelled to his homeland Greece and would spend the entire summer catching up with family and friends.
A man that lived a simple yet rich life, surrounded with his favourite things life had to offer- family, friends and ouzo.
His love was unconditional, and this is something we will cherish from his character. His kindness and generosity will be remembered by all who had the pleasure of knowing him.
Your presence we miss, your memory we treasure, loving you always, forgetting you never.
Granddaughters Maria Dalamaras and Polyxeni Kerasis.
Join us to celebrate the life of Antonios Dolmas on Thursday 17th February, at St Euphemia Greek Orthodox Church from 12.30pm.
