The President of the Greek Orthodox Community of Melbourne and Victoria, Bill Papastergiadis, has sent congratulatory letters to recently elected Greek leaders in the Northern Territory and Western Australia.
The letters are addressed to Nicholas Papas QC, who has been appointed Director of Public Prosecutions in the NT; Basil Zempilas, the Lord Mayor of Perth; and Kon Vatskalis, who was recently re-elected as the Lord Mayor of Darwin.
In all three letters, Mr Papastergiadis invites Mr Papas, Mr Zempilas and Mr Vatskalis to visit Melbourne and the 15 storey Greek Cultural Centre “so as to recognise your achievements with an award.”
The Government has delivered the 2020-21 Migration Program, including the largest Partner Program in over 25 years by processing in excess of 72,000 places for couples seeking to reunite.
The 2020-21 Migration Program has delivered 160,052 places against the planning level of 160,000 places, with the majority going to applicants already onshore. This has increased from 140,366 places delivered in 2019-20.
Visa processing focused on onshore applicants and applicants in critical sectors and occupations. 71.2 per cent of applicants finalised in the Skill Stream and 64.8 per cent of Family places were delivered to applicants onshore.
The majority of applicants came from the region of Southern Asia at 21.9 percent, with applicants from Western Europe at 3.0 percent. That’s a 0.5 percent rise from the 2019-2020 Migration Program.
For citizenship, the majority of successful applicants continue to come from China and India, with the United States of America and the United Kingdom also in the top ten countries. There were no other European countries in the top ten.
For skilled visas, the focus was on supporting Australia’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic by enabling Australian employers to hire the workers needed to maintain their businesses and drive Australia’s recovery from the pandemic.
Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs Alex Hawke said the program exceeded expectations, despite challenges posed by COVID-19.
Alex Hawke MP released the 2020 – 21 Migration Program Report.
“Australia’s well managed migration program delivers outcomes that support economic recovery, create jobs, and protect the safety and security of Australians,” Minister Hawke said.
“Delivering a full program of 160,052 places meant drawing on the pool of onshore applicants due to global COVID-19 restrictions. This has been very successful given the difficult circumstances this year.”
The focus of the Migration Program in 2021-22 will continue to be on visa categories that help Australia’s economic rebound and stabilise net overseas migration.
“We will continue to give priority to skilled visas that drive economic growth, job creation and investment in Australia,” Minister Hawke said.
“There will be ongoing flexibility within the migration program to respond to uncertain health, border and economic conditions arising from COVID-19,” he said.
“The Government will continue to be flexible and adapt to changing circumstances in global migration,” Minister Hawke said.
The 2021-22 Migration Program will have an overall planning level of 160,000 places and carry over the 2020-21 Migration Program composition and planning levels, including the flexibility to move places within the Skill stream to provide flexibility to support Australia’s response to managing COVID-19.
His Eminence Archbishop Makarios of Australia issued a pastoral letter to clergy last night which makes clear that local Greek Orthodox Churches will not divide the faithful into vaccinated and unvaccinated.
“We are facing great difficulty these days because already, in the State of Victoria, they have announced that entry to our Sacred Churches will be prohibited to the faithful who are not vaccinated,” His Eminence said in the letter, which has been circulating on social media this morning.
“Personally, I will never agree with this measure which divides the faithful into vaccinated and unvaccinated. The doors of our Churches will be open to all the faithful. I do not accept that there will be faithful who wish to attend Church and they will not be permitted to do so.”
Archbishop Makarios does acknowledge, however, that vaccinations remain “primarily a medical and scientific issue” and stresses that not all vaccines “are ethically unacceptable.”
“The international scientific community tells us that vaccination is the only solution to confront the pandemic. We therefore listen to the specialists. We urge our people to be vaccinated, without compelling anyone, respecting the freedom of every person,” His Eminence writes.
Churches in New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory remain closed to the faithful due to the current lockdown in those states. Victoria recorded 603 COVID-19 cases today, while NSW had 1,022 new COVID-19 cases and the ACT recorded 16 new cases.
In a statement to The Greek Herald, the Department of Health said:
“Vaccination for COVID-19 is voluntary – as are all vaccinations in Australia – and everyone maintains the option to choose. The Australian Government is a strong supporter of immunisation as a safe and effective way to prevent the spread of many diseases in the community that can cause hospitalisation, serious ongoing health conditions, or even death.
“The COVID-19 pandemic is a public health emergency, and states and territories, who have primary responsibility for public health, are managing the pandemic in their respective jurisdictions based on health advice. We recommend reaching out to the relevant states and territories for advice regarding specific jurisdictions.”
Controversial Strathfield Mayor, Antoine Doueihi, has been replaced by Stephanie Kokkolis for a short three month term before the full council elections kick off in December.
According to The Daily Telegraph, Cr Doueihi chose not to run for re-election, with Cr Kokkolis winning by four votes to three against Matthew Blackmore.
The former mayor, in June, admitted he breached the local government act five times by providing “false or misleading” information about his extensive property interests.
Stephanie Kokkolis.
New mayor Cr Kokkolis, said she was looking to “provide leadership” for the short term. She has been on council since 2012.
“I would like to thank the outgoing mayor Cr Doueihi, and the outgoing deputy mayor, Cr Pensabene for their service, as well as congratulate Cr Nella Hall on her election as deputy mayor,” she said.
“This will only be a short term, but I look forward to working with deputy mayor Hall and the entire council to continue to service the Strathfield community and provide leadership during this challenging time. Thank you for your support.”
Greek Foreign Minister, Nikos Dendias, has instructed the Greek Embassy in Ankara to issue a protest demarche over illegal fishing by Turkish fishing boats inside Greece’s territorial waters, the ministry said on Monday.
“Regrettably, Turkey persists with its illegal behavior,” the ministry said in a statement.
“Committed to defending its rights under international law, Greece will leave no challenge unanswered.”
Ι also underlined the reprehensible practice by vessels of the Turkish Coast Guard to accompany the Turkish fishing boats and harass the Greek fishing boats. (2/3)
The news follows a formal diplomatic note on Sunday against the harassment by Turkish warships of the Maltese-flagged Nautical Geo research ship of French interests.
The vessel was conducting research in an area east of the island of Crete in the context of mapping the possible course of the EastMed pipeline.
Greek authorities have begun moving asylum-seekers living in a squalid camp on the island of Samos into a new facility on the island, where access will be more strictly controlled.
About 200 people were to be moved to the new camp in the hills of Samos on Monday, with around 200 more scheduled to be transferred on Tuesday.
Authorities have stressed the new camp, dubbed a “closed controlled access center” and built to house 3,000 people, will have far better facilities than the old, dilapidated camp on the edge of the island’s main town.
Migrants wait outside the new closed monitored facility in Zervou village. Photo: AP Photo/Michael Svarnias.
But rights groups have raised concerns about the controlled nature of the camp, with some describing it as prison-like.
Entry to the European Union-funded, 43-million-euro ($50 million) facility will be strictly supervised, with the entrance open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and access controlled by entry cards and fingerprints.
The new facility is relatively remote, and authorities have said a bus will run to and from the main town four times a day.
Security personnel check migrants upon their arrival at the new closed monitored facility in Zervou village, on the eastern Aegean island of Samos, Greece, Monday, Sept. 20, 2021. Photo: AP Photo/Michael Svarnias.
The old camp on the edge of Vathy, the main town of Samos, will be shut down. Originally constructed to house just over 600 people at the height of the refugee crisis in 2015, it quickly became Greece’s most overcrowded camp, with around 7,000 people living in the facility and a shantytown that developed around it.
On Sunday night, a small blaze broke out in the old camp, with authorities saying the flames were limited to abandoned structures in one section of the camp. No injuries were reported.
Strahinja Trazivuk from St Euphemia College in Bankstown, Sydney, has been recognised with a 2021 Minister’s Award for Excellence in Student Achievement in the study of the Serbian language.
The Year 6 student tells The Greek Herald he is ‘extremely excited’ about receiving the award and it has motivated him ‘to achieve greater things in the future.’
“This award is extremely sentimental to my family and my community as it shows that I have successfully kept the beauty of the Serbian language alive despite living in a different country,” Strahinja says.
“My family is extremely proud, and I hope that my award has influenced other families to uphold their Serbian heritage.”
Strahinja has been studying Serbian at the Serbian Sunday school of Vuk Karadzic in Cabramatta for six years now and says the language is important to him as it connects him to his heritage and ancestors.
“As a Serbian living in Australia I feel that it is important for me to uphold my traditions and language as they are a part of my identity,” he says.
“My favourite tradition of Serbian culture is the ‘slava’ which is similar to a Greek name day, but instead it is a familial celebration of the patron saint of the family. My family’s slava is St John the Baptist and it is my favourite time of the year.”
When Strahinja isn’t celebrating his Serbian culture and language, he is also smashing other academic goals at St Euphemia College, where he enrolled in kindergarten in 2015.
He represents the school in the sporting arena in basketball and soccer, and has achieved outstanding academic results throughout his schooling.
Strahinja has also received several other awards for excellence, including the 2020 State Parliament Merit Achievement Award for Year 5, which was presented by Member for Bankstown, Tania Mihailuk, and the School Gold Commendation Medal for Year 5.
Once the gates of Belmore Sports Ground opened at 9am on Friday, September 17, a steady stream of cars passed through as hundreds of people arrived to receive their Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccines at Sydney’s first drive through vaccination clinic.
The clinic is in the heart of one of Sydney’s 12 hotspot Local Government Areas (LGA) and is at the spiritual home of the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs. It will be running every Friday, Saturday and Sunday for the next six weeks.
On the first day of the clinic, cars filled with families and couples travelled in one direction towards a tent where they had an ‘encounter’ with a registered nurse who checked their vaccination appointment. Each person in the car was then administered the appropriate vaccine before they drove to an observation area where they were monitored for 15 minutes.
There was one way in and out of the clinic. All photos in this article by: The Greek Herald / Andriana Simos.
Dr Jamal Rifi, who runs the clinic, told The Greek Herald that anyone who was anxious about having the vaccine would also receive a special consultation.
“Someone who is anxious or someone who wants a longer consultation, we have another bay where they will come in and I will talk to them and address their concern,” Dr Rifi said.
“If they’re happy to proceed, we do have Pfizer, we do have AstraZeneca, so we will give them the injection depending on whatever they need.”
Dr Jamal Rifi runs the drive through vaccination clinic.
‘This is perfect’:
From what The Greek Herald could see on the opening day of the drive through vaccination clinic at Belmore Sports Ground, everyone who was waiting in the car queue had smiles on their faces and were excited to be there.
Mary and Nicholas, a Greek mother and son from Lakemba, were one of the hundreds waiting in the line. Mary said while she was nervous to be vaccinated, she was also ‘relieved I can finally get it over and done with.’
Dr Rifi administering a vaccine.
Mary and Nicholas.
“My son convinced me [to come down]. I kept putting it off and I thought, ‘I’m going to wait until the end of the line…’ and then we heard about this and he said to me, ‘mum they’re going to be doing a drive through’ and I said, ‘why not?’,” Mary told The Greek Herald.
“I think it’s a great idea. You don’t actually have to get out of the car, you don’t have to stand and wait for hours on end, so this is perfect.”
Mr Sweetman, another clinic visitor who gave a thumbs up after receiving his vaccine from Dr Rifi, said he also thought it was a ‘fantastic’ idea because ‘I waited only five minutes.’
Mr Sweetman.
Volunteers at the clinic.
‘Gives people a bit of hope’:
Of course, a successful drive through clinic such as this takes time to organise and the Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations and for the Arts, Tony Burke MP, told The Greek Herald it had been in the works for a couple of weeks but once everything aligned, things ‘moved really quickly.’
“There’s been a really deep frustration throughout the local area and to have something like this gives people a bit of hope when they need it,” Mr Burke, who is also the Member for Watson and Patron of the Bulldogs, said.
“I’ve just walked past the queue and it’s the happiest queue in Belmore. You’ve got family groups in cars together. It just means they can all come down and [get vaccinated] together.”
Member for Canterbury, Sophie Cotsis, agreed with Mr Burke and encouraged anyone who wants to get vaccinated to visit the drive through.
“I think once people hear about it and they see they can just make a booking and drive through… they’ll tell their neighbours, their family, their friends and that’s critical,” Ms Cotsis said.
“The way out of this is vaccination and increasing our rates, particularly in our community where there are hotspots. So it’s vitally important that as many people who haven’t yet been vaccinated bring their family, hop in the car and drive through.”
If you want to book an appointment at the Belmore Sports Ground, you can make one at https://bit.ly/39hANLx.
Alex Savidis and his young family moved from Sydney to the US in August 2020 to open new cafe, In Common NYC, in the city’s Hudson Yards and what happened next was unexpected.
Alex’s cafe project was not only delayed a full year due to the pandemic, but he and his partner, Dana, also both caught COVID in January, suffering a bad flu and fatigue.
Their two-year-old son didn’t get it, and Dana, who was eight-months pregnant at the time, gave birth to a healthy baby six weeks later, having a planned home birth to avoid COVID-filled hospitals.
“This summer everyone has moved back to the city, apartments are hard to find again and there’s a buzz about the city with people eager to get out and make up for lost time,” Alex said.
Alex says everyone has moved back to the city.
“The real change came entering summer 2021, when the city opened back up completely and it took some time after that before indoor dining was allowed at max capacity. Before that was only 10 per cent capacity.”
Currently in the US, people are not required to sign in when entering establishments, though the current guidelines are that masks are required for unvaccinated people and optional for the vaccinated.
“In the supermarkets you’ll see a mix of people with and without masks and nobody is getting hassled for their personal decision,” Alex said.
People wearing masks in NYC.
“Restaurants, bars and gyms all now require to ask for ID and proof of vaccination if anyone wants to go in and use the facility, otherwise outdoor dining is the option for unvaccinated people.”
And what about travel?
“People can move around within the country freely – international travel requires a vaccine or negative COVID test before flying,” Alex said.
“Many of my friends have had trips locally and internationally with no issues. Europe, South and Central America and the Caribbean have all been popular destinations.
“People are just living! You can quarantine when you come back or get a negative COVID test.”
AFL legend, Anthony Koutoufides, and actress, Olympia Valance, will be hitting the dance floor this year as they join the new season of ‘Dancing With The Stars: All Stars.’
Koutoufides won the dancing show in 2006 and decided it was time to return after 15 years.
“This will certainly test the old body but looking forward to the challenge again. Bring it on!” Koutoufides wrote on Instagram.
Koutoufides and Valance will be joined by 10 other series winners including TV host, Grant Denyer (2006), actor, Bridie Carter (2007), and former AFL player, David Rodan (2014).
Newcomers, Deni Hines, Sam McMillan, Kris Smith and Cameron Daddo, will also try their hand at dancing for the first time as wildcard entrants.
Australia, #DancingAU All Stars is BACK! ✨ Featuring 14 former champions, fan favourites and wildcards who are ready to tear up the dance floor! 💃🕺
“My two young girls are absolutely obsessed with dancers and ballerinas and I thought if they could see me with real live professional dancers, I’d become a cool dad,” Kris Smith, who shares two daughters with Sarah Boulazeris, told The Daily Telegraph.
“And also, if the last few months have taught me one thing, it’s to take every opportunity and enjoy it.”
Production is currently underway on the latest ‘All Stars’ season that will again be hosted by Sonia Kruger and Daryl Somerson Channel 7.
