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Jenny Mikakos called out as ‘smug and arrogant’ for refusing to answer questions during parliament

The Greek Herald
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Jenny Mikakos called out as ‘smug and arrogant’ for refusing to answer questions during parliament

Jenny Mikakos’ has received calls for her resignation after the Victorian Health Minister ignored the Chief Health Officer’s advice not to attend parliament and then refused to answer questions about the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Herald Sun reports that Ms Mikakos and about 10 other MPs disregarded medical advice from the state’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton, who recommended they did not attend parliament.

A “smug” Ms Mikakos then ignored questions about the government’s coronavirus response, including the bungled hotel quarantine program that sparked the state’s disastrous second wave.

Ms Mikakos dismissed six key questions, prompting questions about why she bothered to defy the advice not to attend, only to refuse to answer queries.

“It was just extraordinary and it looked smug and arrogant,” said Opposition upper house leader David Davis.

“People are entitled to answers and all she had to do was stand there and answer truthfully.”

In the chamber, Ms ­Mikakos slammed the Opposition, saying: “The position that the government has been forced into in relation to today’s sitting has been one that has set a very dangerous position — not just in terms of putting staff at risk but also sending a clear message to the community that the Chief Health Officer’s advice can be ignored.”

But Australian Medical Association president Omar Khorshid hit out at all the MPs who disregarded Prof Sutton, saying there was “nothing special about politicians”.

Jenny Mikakos sparked outrage by refusing to answer questions. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

“They’re not immune from COVID. They haven’t been vaccinated and they, and their staff, can certainly transmit this virus around the country,” Dr Khorshid said.

“It is very disappointing that the Victorian upper house is sitting against the Chief Health Officer’s­ ­advice.”

After Ms Mikakos’s refusal to answer questions, Opposition MPs Georgie Crozier and Bernie Finn, who labelled her a “shameful disgrace”, called for her to resign.

Government members have recently expressed their frustration over the decision to release minimal data about Victoria’s COVID-19 cases, instead hiding behind the ongoing judicial inquiry.

A handful of ministers have also expressed annoyance with Daniel Andrews’ move to create a “Super Cabinet” of eight, including himself, Ms Mikakos, Emergency Services Minister Lisa ­Neville and Industry Minister Martin Pakula.

THE QUESTIONS JENNY MIKAKOS REFUSED TO ANSWER

1 On what date in March or April were you advised that there were serious issues with the hotel security program?

2 Why is the government not listening to the advice of former federal Department of Health head professor Stephen Duckett, Melbourne University professor Tony Blakely or Professor Bill Bowtell, adjunct professor at University of New South Wales, and other authors of the Medical Journal of Australia article, which advocates the pursuit of coronavirus elimination rather than the yo-yo pattern we are now in?

3 The health department has refused opposition requests to access the background documents, working papers and the scientific papers that have informed the health orders issued since March. What do you have to hide or what do you have to cover up that would be made evident in these documents?

4 The Doherty Institute has undertaken a genomic report into Victoria’s COVID-19 positive cases. Will you release the report today?

5 What is the current utilisation and spare capacity of ICU beds and ventilators, and how does that utilisation rate justify the recently announced stricter lockdown measures?

6 The public health team that critically includes contact tracing had less funding in 2019–20 than in 2016–17. Is it not a fact, minister, that you have cut public health, including contact tracing, to the bone, leaving Victorians exposed when the COVID-19 pandemic hit?

Devastation in Lebanon – World leaders send condolences as more than 70 dead and 3,700 wounded

The Greek Herald
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Devastation in Lebanon – World leaders send condolences as more than 70 dead and 3,700 wounded

A massive explosion and a serious shock wave shook the Lebanese capital city of Beirut on Tuesday. Emergency workers are responding to extensive damages and a high number of casualties.

Videos of the huge blast, the cause of which is still unclear, quickly surfaced on social media.

The blast appears to have been centered on the city’s port area. State-run National News Agency reported that the source of the explosion was initially believed to be a major fire at a warehouse in the area.

Large numbers of people were wounded in the blast, authorities said, and footage from the scene captured the injured staggering through streets in the capital. The country’s health minister ordered all hospitals in the area to prepare to receive injuries.

It’s reported that homes as far as 10 kilometres away were damaged. One Beirut resident who was several kilometres away from the site of the blast said her windows had been shattered by the explosion.

The cause of the explosion is still unclear.

International response

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison sent his condolences to the people of Beirut, confirming that one Australian is among the 73 people killed and 3700 injured.

“It’s my deep regret to inform you that one Australian has been killed in this horrific blast, we obviously can’t confirm details of that at this stage because there’s contacts with families and others,” Mr Morrison said.

“But our hearts go out to all of those in Lebanon and in Beirut in particular at the moment, you can see from the images of the blasts that it’s just absolutely devastating.”

Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis also expressed his condolences and offered a hand out to the people of Lebanon.

“On behalf of the Greek people, I want to express my deepest condolences to the people of Lebanon, especially to the families who have suffered losses, and wish a speedy recovery to the wounded. Our thoughts are with you.”

Australian Embassy hit hard

Foreign Minister Marise Payne confirmed on Wednesday that “several” staff were injured by shattered glass as 95 per cent of the building’s windows were blown in.

Payne said the Australian Embassy had sustained considerable damage from the blast.

“Staff have been affected by a number of glass injuries,” she told ABC radio.

At least 73 people were killed in the blast, which damaged the Australian embassy and left injured residents climbing from the rubble of their homes. Credit: CNN

“Fortunately, they are relatively minor and they have all been treated.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison described the scenes as “incredibly distressing” as he confirmed the death of an Australian citizen.

Coronavirus pandemic led to Greece seeing fewer migrant arrivals from Turkey, minister says

The Greek Herald
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Coronavirus pandemic led to Greece seeing fewer migrant arrivals from Turkey, minister says

Greece has seen fewer migrants and refugees arriving from Turkey, numbering in the hundreds in the last four months, mainly due to increased border checks and partly due to the coronavirus pandemic, a government minister said on Tuesday.

But Turkey is “a difficult and unpredictable neighbour that controls a pool of four million migrants and refugees”, Alternate Migration Minister George Koumoutsakos told Reuters.

“No one can rule out that it will attempt to use (them) at another instance.”

Koumoutsakos was speaking before visiting migrant camps on the island of Lesbos with the premier of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

In March, tensions between NATO allies Greece and Turkey, which disagree on a range of issues, rose a notch when thousands of refugees hosted by Turkey tried to storm the border into Greece and the European Union.

“The reduced flow won’t allow us to rest. On the contrary, it imposes the (need) for continued vigilance,” Koumoutsakos said.

More than a million people fleeing conflict reached Greek shores from Turkey in 2015-16.

From April to July, Greece recorded 850 arrivals, down from 12,363 in the same period last year. Tens of thousands are still trapped in overcrowded migrant camps on its islands. Turkey, home to 3.6 million Syrians, the world’s largest refugee population, had said it would open the frontier because it was alarmed by the prospect of another wave of refugees fleeing war in northwest Syria.

The conservative Greek government has started transferring thousands of migrants to more secure facilities on the mainland, which activists have compared to prisons.

“There will be strict controls but they are not prisons,” Koumoutsakos said. “Greece does not build prisons. It’s a democratic European state which protects its borders as well as human rights.”

Sourced By: Reuters

Federal Government wasn’t notified of St Basil’s Fawkner coronavirus outbreak for nearly a week

The Greek Herald
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Federal Government wasn’t notified of St Basil’s Fawkner coronavirus outbreak for nearly a week

Five days passed before the federal government was notified of a COVID outbreak at the St Basil’s aged-care home in Melbourne, an inquiry revealed.

A Senate inquiry was launched on Tuesday to investigate the government’s pandemic response to the COVID-19 outbreak at aged-care homes. The inquiry found multiple failures regarding the communication delivered from St Basil’s aged-care home to the federal government.

“At almost every step of the growing outbreaks of COVID-19 in nursing homes, the Morrison government has been behind the eight ball and the consequences are sadly tragic,” opposition aged-care spokeswoman Julie Collins said on Tuesday.

The St Basil’s providers were supposed to notify federal authorities and the state public health unit within half an hour of learning of an infection.

Senator Colbeck acknowledged several issues with the response to the St Basil’s outbreak.(ABC News: Ian Cutmore)

Both Senator Colbeck and Professor Murphy confirmed media reports that despite the first COVID-19 case at St Basil’s being identified on July 9, the Federal Government was not advised of the outbreak until July 14.

“The board chair became aware on the ninth [of July] but didn’t raise it with Commonwealth,” Brendan Murphy, health department secretary and former chief medical officer, told the hearing.

St Basil’s management has previously disputed these allegations, arguing state authorities were notified on July 9.

Professor Murphy said the delay was likely due to state health officials being overwhelmed.

The Federal Government had to step in to help manage St Basil’s aged care home.(ABC News)

“I think the challenge was with the huge, overwhelming amount of community transmission. The Victorian public health unit had some delays in both getting tests back and identifying and analysing this was an aged-care outbreak,” he said.

St Basil’s has so far suffered approximately 20 deaths, along with 142 confirmed infections. Senators, including Labor senator Katy Gallagher, have blamed this failure in communication for the cause of the tragedy experienced by residents.

“There was a five-day window where the Commonwealth had no line of sight or understanding that there was an outbreak at St Basil’s,” she said.

Federal health authorities initiated widespread testing at St Basil’s on July 15.

Uni student Theodoula Vorenas giving back to school community by providing free VCE tutoring on YouTube

The Greek Herald
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Uni student Theodoula Vorenas giving back to school community by providing free VCE tutoring on YouTube

A first year Greek Australian law student, who has already entered the year with a full schedule, is going the extra step to give back to the school community during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Using the video sharing platform YouTube, Melbourne-based university student Theodoula Vorenas is providing free continuous tutoring to students currently struggling engage in study for their VCE.

Speaking to The Greek Herald, Theodoula says she felt sympathy towards students trying to get through their VCE during COVID-19, knowing first-hand how stressful the situation can be for some students.

“After we found out about the first COVID restrictions, I was feeling so unsure how these students were going to get through their VCE,” Theodoula says to The Greek Herald.

“With all these restrictions I thought there was no way I could do face to face tutoring, so I thought why don’t I just do something online on a platform like YouTube where everyone can access it for free, as opposed to trying to get students to pay through Zoom.”

Former school captain of Mercy College, Coburg, Theodoula has always been an active member of her school community and is constantly looking for a way to give back to students. Recognising not everyone has the means to pay for continuous tutoring, she decided to donate her time to help those going through their VCE.

“What I wanted for my channel was for the tutoring to be continuous. I didn’t want students to just access it once and never think about it again.

“I wanted it to be a resource that was there for their whole VCE journey.”

With her videos ranging from five minutes to twenty minutes long, students have the option between a speedy tutorial, or to engage in their learning with extended guidance.

“I know some of my videos are quite long but I’m trying to get as much content in there as possible, I want to try and make sure they are the best possible resource for students.”

Having a heavy workload at university, her YouTube tutorials have helped her to be conscious of time management. However, she finds that helping students with their studying techniques is just as important as her university course work.

Theodoula’s grandparents hail from from the Greek islands of Thessanloniki and Lemnos, with the law student recognising that much of her generous attitude derives from her family values.

“It’s something that has always been instilled in me from a very young age by my parents and grandparents.”

Eves Karydas on celebrating her Greek heritage through music

Andriana Simos
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Eves Karydas on celebrating her Greek heritage through music

Eves Karydas’ 2018 debut album ‘summerskin‘ put her on people’s radars as a pop icon in-the-making, with hit songs ‘Further Than The Planes Fly’ and ‘Couch.’

This year, her new single ‘Complicated’ further cemented her status as a music star.

But what many don’t know about the Brisbane-based artist, is that she’s a passionate Greek Australian with a “big Greek family” and “very superstitious yiayia,” as she likes to say.

“I grew up in Cairns with lots of cousins, used to go to the Greek church, got so many presents at Christmas and birthdays, and had a very superstitious yiayia,” Karydas told ABC Triple J.

Eves Karydas’ new single ‘Complicated’ has cemented her status as a music star.

Born Hannah Evyenia Karydas, she went under the name ‘Eves the Behaviour’ when she first started making music. But a couple of years ago, she made the call to change up the back half.

“Obviously Karydas is my surname. Eves comes from my middle name, it’s actually a Greek family name Evyenia,” she explains.

“I think the direction I’ve taken…the music is a lot more confessional and up front, so I didn’t want to hide behind a moniker.”

Eves Karydas was born in Cairns to a big Greek family.

Both Hannah’s grandparents grew up in Greece during WW2 before emigrating to Australia. Her pappou began working as a cane farmer once he came over and that’s where he met her yiayia.

“He’s the grandfather that I refer to in ‘Complicated’ but he passed away last year,” she explains. “He served in the Greek military and his upbringing and his childhood was just so… well, complicated, I guess.

“When he passed away it gave me a bit of a perspective check. I was like, ‘why am I complaining about things?’ He emigrated across the world by boat when he was my age and was so brave.”

Her extended family are from an island off Greece called Samos. “It’s famous because Pythagoras [of Theorem fame] is from there,” she exclaims.

“It’s so beautiful! My family live right on the beach and their job is to rent beach umbrellas to tourists and sell ice cream.”

If you do find yourself going to Greece some time in the who knows how distant future, Hannah’s top tip is: “Don’t go to Mykonos.”

“Mykonos is great if you want to spend $8 for a bottle of water. Go to another island. Go to Athens. It’s just so much more authentic and there’s no crazy rich people who get in the way. Or go to Samos! Boost the tourism industry!”

Greece to begin charging tourists 20-euro fee for medical services

The Greek Herald
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Greece to begin charging tourists 20-euro fee for medical services

For the first time ever, tourists entering Greece will soon have to pay a surcharge of 20 euros for health services which they incur during their stay in the country.

Up until now, travelers to the country had never paid anything at all for medical care in Greece, regardless of where in the world they may have hailed from, except for hospitalisations.

But Greece’s Health Ministry has ruled that from the end of July onwards, the 20 euro fee will be imposed on all foreign travelers who present themselves at health centers, regional clinics and outpatient clinics of hospitals.

The new fees also apply to those who reside in Greece but are considered “non-permanent” residents of the country.

According to Greek media outlet healthreport, Greece’s Health Ministry hopes to collect “significant funds,” most obviously during the tourist season, when Greece sees millions of tourists come into the country.

The new ruling alters the provisions of a law passed in 2017 which allows for the collection of funds to repay hospitals only for the services they provide.

The test to determine positivity to the coronavirus is generally below 50 euros in public hospitals but this fee can vary in private institutions.

Launch of new Pontic dialect tutorial is an Australian-first

Andriana Simos
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Launch of new Pontic dialect tutorial is an Australian-first

The Pontian Community of Melbourne and Victoria has today announced the establishment of a Pontic dialect learning tutorial for the first time in Australia.

The Community worked closely with philologist and educator, Γιώτα Ιωακειμίδου, to create a tutorial which will preserve and disseminate the Pontic dialect to future generations.

Mrs Ιωακειμίδου teaches Pontic in the municipality of Thessaloniki, while she has also attempted the radical revision of the Pontic teaching manual of the late V. Antoniadou-Kesidou.

This revision provides “an easy-to-use guide” for the tutorial, the Community said in a statement.

“The Pontic dialect is closely connected with the ancient Greek language and is a link to the unified and indivisible Greek language,” Apostolos Alexiadis, President of the Pontian Community of Melbourne and Victoria, said.

“It is the language of our ancestors and we consider it our duty to do what we can to maintain the language for our children. Our wish and hope is the phrase of the late philologist Jordan Vamvakidis: ‘the Pontic dialect does not have the courage to die’.”

The tutorial is available online for free and is open to members of the Pontian community and anyone else who is interested.

“As more and more people from Melbourne and other Australian states are showing interest, we will soon be setting up additional departments,” Mr Alexiadis added.

“The establishment and operation of the Pontic tutoring center by the Pontian Community of Melbourne has multiple values ​​and will contribute substantially to our goal of preserving and preserving the Pontic dialect.”

Greek restaurant goes viral with sassy response to influencers ‘begging’ for a free meal

Andriana Simos
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Greek restaurant goes viral with sassy response to influencers ‘begging’ for a free meal

A vegetarian restaurant on the Greek island of Kos in the Dodecanese has put its foot down when it comes to “Social Media Influencers,” people who post their activities and opinions on media for others to emulate.

According to a recent article from Greek lifestyle website, Lifo, the owner of the restaurant, who wishes to remain anonymous, regularly receives freebie requests from these “celebrities” in return for free publicity for the establishment.

Instead, he always offers these individuals the option of the restaurant donating a free meal to charity after the influencers pay for their own meal  — and he has never been taken up on that proposition, not once.

Screenshots of these exchanges went viral on Reddit and social media overnight, with some posts attracting over 76,000 likes.

  • The requests received daily by the Greek restaurant. Source: Reddit.
  • The Greek owner’s viral response to the requests.

One of them reads: “I recently heard about your restaurant from a friend of mine who mentioned you serve great Greek dishes and vegan options. Would love to come here with my friend in exchange for social media tagging.”

To which the restaurant responds: “Thank you very much, however our restaurant has a policy. We charge every influencer who wants to eat here normally, however we offer food of equal value to people in need instead.”

This, the owner tells Lifo, is the reply he has given to people over the past three years, adding that “no one has ever accepted to come under this condition” and most of the time “they don’t even reply and some even delete their original message.”

With strong support for the Greek restaurant online, only time will tell if influencers will now start to actually take him up on his offer as a means to further boost their brand and image.

Billionaire Con Makris puts $200m of shopping centres up for sale

Andriana Simos
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Billionaire Con Makris puts $200m of shopping centres up for sale

Adelaide’s richest man, Con Makris, has listed two shopping centres in Adelaide worth a combined price tag of $200 million.

The property tycoon is divesting the City Cross shopping centre which runs off Grenfell Street in the Adelaide CBD, while also offloading the North Adelaide Village neighbourhood shopping complex.

Mr Makris had an estimated personal fortune of $1.31 billion in the 2019 Financial Review Rich List.

CBRE’s Simon Rooney and James Douglas have been appointed to steer the sale campaign on behalf of the Makris Group, South Australia’s largest privately-owned retail property group.

The North Adelaide Village Shopping Centre is being sold by Con Makris.

The City Cross shopping centre includes anchor tenants Harvey Norman, Rebel Sport and Australia Post. There is also a large food court and the complex has 57 specialty tenancies overall. It also includes an adjacent office complex.

The North Adelaide Village Shopping Centre on O’Connell Street in North Adelaide, is about 3km from the heart of the CBD. It is in a wealthy catchment area and close to the iconic Adelaide Oval and St Peter’s Cathedral.

Mr Rooney expects robust demand even in a tough economy.

“Adelaide’s retail yield spread relative to Sydney and Melbourne, with added tax efficiencies, make it an attractive state in which to invest,” Mr Rooney said.

“There has been significant interest in Adelaide in recent years from domestic and offshore investors, who have acquired circa $700 million of retail assets.”

South Australian billionaire developer Con Makris. Photo: The Advertiser.

Mr Makris late last year sold the Newton Village Shopping Centre in Adelaide’s north-western suburbs in an off-market deal worth $35 million.

The Newton Village Shopping Centre was bought by Sydney-based property group Revelop.

Mr Makris arrived in Adelaide as a teenager in 1964 from Greece before building up a vast property development and shopping centre empire after starting off with a chicken shop.

He stepped back from the day-to-day operations of the Makris Group several years ago and put in place an independent advisory board to guide expansion, which has been focused on Queensland.

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