The AFL great will take on Nicholas ‘Nick’ Reece in the October local council election after he was voted in as Lord Mayor this July.
In a statement to kick off his campaign, Koutoufides said the “time to act is now” and announced some of his key policies. They included a pledge for a two-year rates freeze and funding for more major events to support local businesses.
Lord Mayor Nick Reece and Anthony Koutoufides at Carlton game at the MCG. Photo: @nickreecemelbourne / Instagram.
“Your voices need to be heard and the final quarter has just started… Vote for a better Melbourne,” the footy icon said.
According to the statement, “Captain” Koutoufides will lead his “high performance [Team Kouta]” having led Carlton FC from 2004 to 2006.
Koutoufides’ entire ticket is yet to be confirmed, with his running partner unknown.
Melbourne-based tech start-up E-Mersion Media has sensationally collapsed with debts of over $12 million.
According to liquidator Mathew Gollant’s report, the company, which specialised in digitising traditional print magazines, had been at a loss since its inception.
The media-tech company only managed to make four sales in the four years it was in operation, coming in at a measly $84,274.
The business also received a further $200,000 from the government’s JobKeeper grant to pay staff during the COVID-19 pandemic which kept it afloat until it went into liquidation in April this year.
Over the course of these four years, Iliopoulos’ business racked up losses of $12.6 million on staff wages, legal fees, computer and software expenses, and travel expenses, according to Gollant’s statutory report.
Staff are also owed $255,000 from unpaid employee entitlements.
E-Mersion Media had summed investments of up to $12 million from over 50 (predominantly Australian) investors, money they will unlikely recover.
“Some things don’t work out to plan,” Iliopoulos said on the collapse.
Stefanos Tsitsipas faced Jan-Lennard Struff at the Cincinnati Open on Wednesday, August 14 in one of his first matches after dumping father Apostolos as his coach.
Competing at the ATP Masters 1000 event after a tense match and defeat in Montreal, Tsitsipas rallied from a set and a break down to defeat Jan-Lennard Struff 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Tsitsipas fought to return across the second and third sets when he converted three of 14 break points he earned leading to a one-hour, 57-minute victory.
“I felt like I was in a great flow state towards the end of the match with my serve,” Tsitsipas said in his post-match interview.
“Immediately my groundstrokes improved, immediately my confidence to come forward and close in improved, so there were a lot of improvements that contributed to my game today.”
Firefighters have fought to contain the remaining fire near Athens, Greece that killed a woman and pushed thousands of people out of their homes.
Spreading from Varnavas, 35 km from the capital, most fronts were eased after firefighters battled the wildfire since Sunday, August 11.
A European Union satellite mapping agency showed 104 square kilometres of land was devastated by the blaze, covering an area almost twice the size of Manhattan and blanketing Athens with a thick cloud of smoke.
A drone shot shows the devastation of the Greece wildfire. Photo: Global News.
Greece remains on high fire alert, with temperatures forecast to hit 40 degrees Celsius raising concerns over possible flare-ups.
The wildfire follows successive heat waves across southern Europe and low levels of rainfall this year.
Despite not knowing what started the fire, Greece has recently tightened penalties for arson. The government has also announced compensation and relief measures for those impacted by the disaster.
Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis visited an air base in Elefsina to “say a very big ‘thank you’” to the country’s aerial firefighters and acknowledge the international assistance from nine countries, including Turkey. Australian helicopters from McDermott Aviation also took part in the firefighting efforts.
According to Ekathimerini, Mitsotakis addressed the pilots saying, “I know how difficult it is to do what you do, especially for the [Canadair] CL-215 operators. I am fully aware of what it means to fly airplanes that have seen hard use… [And] how much work is done by the support technicians so that you can keep the aircraft in the air.”
“I’ve said it many times, we’re always striving to improve. We don’t expect the solution to just come out of thin air. Very important work needs to be done in the area of prevention,” he concluded.
The feeling is ignited only to the lucky ones that have experienced at least one Dekapentavgousto in Greece. The sense of sacredness is diffuse in every corner of the country, heralding the end of summer, in the characteristic, mild breeze of late August.
Awakenings, traditions, pilgrimages to historic monasteries throughout the country, offers to the Virgin Mary and a 15-day period of Lent, commonly honour the Dormition of Mary.
Some places have tied their name to the uniqueness or the longevity of their celebration of the Dormition of Mary.
Panayia of Kosmosoteira, Ferai, Evros: Liturgy at the Trinational Point of Evros
Constructed on the strategically unique position atop a hill trespassing via Egnatia, close to Evros river, the church of Kosmosoteira, in the traditional Ferai settlement (district of Thrace), is an outstanding monument of the mid-Byzantine period. The monastery has been founded by the emperor Isaac Komnenos in 1152.
Over the recent years, the monastery is under extensive preservation and restoration, which has transferred the liturgy of the Dormition outdoors in the vast church yard, offering a breathtaking, clear view of the Evros river and the neighbouring villages of Turkey.
The combination of the scenery, the historicity of the place and the sacredness of the day, combine to create a thrilling experience, revived by locals and visitors every year.
Kozani, village of Siatista: The Horsemen’s Custom; Pilgrimage
This is a tradition that casts back to the days of the Ottoman occupation. At some point during the Ottoman occupation, the rulers granted to the occupied Greeks the right to honour the day of the Dormition and this was thereupon celebrated in the most venerable way, even only for a day.
After all, the collective, religious celebration was a reminder of their identity and it kept their wish for liberation alive.
The miraculous icon of Virgin Mary, kept in the homonym monastery of the village Mikrokastro (namely: small castle) during the litany, the ritualistic procession is carried by the pilgrims, mounted on their tastefully adorned horses. The sacred icon is kept in this monastery since 1603.
The embellished and long-prepared horses of the march are the highlight of the celebration, coupled with the traditional music, dance and food, all the long way up to the monastery.
Kefalonia, Markopoulo: The Snakes of Virgin Mary
An eerie, unique spectacle is observed in the Markopoulos settlement of Kefalonia island. The spectacle attracts masses of believers. The story, or the myth, of the small, harmless snakes of Panayia of Fidous (Virgin Mary of the snakes) traces back to a time when pirates threatened to invade the island and plunder the monastery.
The nuns then resorted to prayers, summoning for their salvation and the monastery’s safety. The snakes are reputed to be the God-sent salvation of the defenseless nuns against the pirates, notes Kastellariou (2018).
Thereupon, every year, on August 15, the iconic and innocent snakes peek out of the bell tower, making their way to the churchyard and the interior of the monastery, to startle the visitors and, as the folk belief goes, also bring good luck and well-being to the entire island.
Kastanies, Monastery of Panayia Soumela, Imathia: Honouring the Pontiac Orthodox past
Prior to the fateful expatriation and the forced departure, in 1922, of millions of people of the Orthodox population of Pontus, instigated by the movement of the Young Turks, two monks from the monastery of Panayia Soumela concealed in a chest, the holy icon of Panayia, a priceless cross crafted with a piece of the True Cross, owned by Manuel Konmenos the III, and a manuscript of the Holy Gospel, owned by Saint Christophorus.
They buried the chest in the chapel yard of Saint Barbara. It was in 1931, upon initiative of the Prime Minister of the time, Eleftherios Venizelos, that one of the monks, pater Amvrosios, was sent back to Pontus to unearth and recover the sacred heirlooms, which he brought back to Greece. 1951 marks the year of the construction of the new Panayia Soumela, in Vermio, Imathia district.
The foundation of the new monastery was upon initiative of Filon Ktenidis (Trabzon, 1889-Thessaloniki, 1963). The monastery is a direct symbolic reference to the original one and it enshrines the historic icon of Panayia Soumela that was brought back from Pontus, accompanied by the sacred heirlooms.
Every year in Dekapentavgoustos, the holy site is flooded with thousands of pilgrims arriving from every part of the country and abroad who arrive to honour the Dormition of Virgin Mary and observe the celebrations.
Besides being a bank holyday and one of the most glorious religious celebrations, August 15, Dekapentavgoustos or the Koimisis of Theotokos (the Dormition of Virgin Mary), is also a name day to many Greek people, therefore a family celebration, as, most probably, there is at least one member named after Panayia in a Greek family.
Wish them a happy name day if you happen to be close to a Panos, Panayiotis, Panayiota, Yiota, Mary, Maria, Mario, Despoina or Despo!
References:
Τα έθιμα του Δεκαπενταύγουστου στην Ελλάδα. YouTube. Uploaded by EΡΤ Α.Ε. Uploaded 15/08/21. https://youtu.be/DGsOTpYxyyM.
Καλτσίδη, Μ. (2022). Σιάτιστα Κοζάνης: Αναβίωσε το Έθιμο των Καβαλάρηδων. ERT News.
Kastelloriou, S. (2018). Η Σημερινή ημέρα της Κοιμήσεως της Θεοτόκου, αποτελεί μία από τις μεγαλύτερες γιορτές της ορθοδοξίας, γνωστή και ως το Πάσχα του Καλοκαιριού. SBS Ελληνικά.
Controversial Gold Coast racing car driver, Chris Pappas, has been identified as the victim of a horrific hammer and knife attack on the Glitter Strip.
36-year-old Pappas was rushed to hospital in a serious condition after being stabbed and struck with a hammer multiple times at his waterfront mansion at Mermaid Waters early on Tuesday, August 13.
He is believed to have been stabbed in the leg and hit in the head in a 3am attack at the Sailaway St residence.
His condition was listed as stable on Tuesday afternoon.
Chris Pappas. Photo: Facebook.
According to The Daily Telegraph, Mr Pappas had been at home with his partner Krystle Earsman when two masked men burst in. Mr Pappas allegedly wrestled with the intruders. His sister, who lives next door and was alerted by screams, rang police.
Mr Pappas is believed to have recently upgraded security at the house following threats.
Mr Pappas was taken to Gold Coast University Hospital. A crime scene was declared and an investigation has been launched.
George Paraskevopoulos’ eyes fill with tears when he talks about his father. We sit with the Greek Australian businessman in his coffee shop in Athens, Greece called The Roasting Warehouse Athens (Ntelakroua 2, Athens) when memories flood his mind.
George opens up about his migration to Australia with his parents, a brief pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic that gave him the opportunity to reflect, and the return to Greece with the opening of a coffee shop in the up-and-coming suburb of Neos Kosmos.
“It’s like a circle has closed,” he says emotionally, thinking of his father, who recently passed away.
(Photo on left) The Greek Australian businessman, George Paraskevopoulos (left) with his partner and Greek coffee champion, Nikos Antzaras (right).
George’s father didn’t get to see the Roasting Warehouse Athens, but he felt proud of his son and the small coffee empire he had created in Melbourne, Victoria. With two stores in Airport West and North Melbourne, and later South Fremantle in Western Australia, George has instilled the philosophy of coffee not only in the Greek community, but also in his Australian customers.
The opening of the store in Athens, he tells me, “is an opportunity to come to Greece five to six times a year.”
Within a few months of opening, Roasting Warehouse Athens has already become a meeting point for Greek Australians in Greece. It has also been visited by the Australian Ambassador to Greece, Alison Duncan. A regular visitor is the stunning model, Mary Vitinaros.
“In just three days, I met about 100 people from Australia,” George says, pleased with the early support for his venture.
The Australian Ambassador to Greece, Alison Duncan (third from left) meets with George Paraskevopoulos (left), his family and work team.
Meeting the coffee champion
The Roasting Warehouse Athens was the result of a friendship between George and the Greek coffee champion, top barista Nikos Antzaras.
“I met Nikos in Australia. He was competing there in a global coffee competition. He had come with his wife, Eleni, who now oversees everything in the store,” George says.
“I told my son to go pick them up from the airport, to help with whatever they needed. We had a good time. A few months later, we came to Greece. We met with the kids, they treated us, we talked but we didn’t discuss anything about the store. In April 2023, Eleni sent me a proposal to open the store. She asked if I was interested.
“I thought about it, sometimes I said yes, sometimes no. The mind plays games. Finally, I said yes. I came to Greece. Nikos had chosen the location, and I liked it very much.”
George had a coffee empire before, which inspired him into offering the best possible coffee to his Australian customers.
“I always had businesses in Melbourne. Starting in 2002, I created a chain of 27 stores, which was doing very well. I decided to buy a store in Perth to roast coffee, and immediately after, I bought a store in North Melbourne,” he explains.
For George, coffee is a bonding agent that brings people together. What he wants now, as he raises his three children to take over the business, is to have contacts with people who share his vision. The coffee community, as he calls it.
“Now I know what I want. I want a community of people with my interests. I like the coffee community. It doesn’t discriminate. You go, have a coffee, no one will ask you what religion you believe in or where you are from. And I like that,” George says.
Life in Greece
George was born and raised in Melbourne, but life brought him to Greece when he was nine years old. From a metropolitan center in Australia to a Greek village in the 1970s.
“We lived in Greece for a few years. In the village of Panagitsa, a little outside of Levidi. I was nine years old then. I remember the landmarks of my life from my trips to Greece,” he says.
“It was incredible. It was a cultural shock having lived in Australia and then living in a small village. We left again for Australia, then came back to Greece and lived in Vrachati, Corinthia. For about a year. My father had the adventure in him. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”
George adds that his mother visits Greece every year and she was happy that he opened the store in Athens.
“She is 82 years old and comes to Greece every year. My mother knows me, that I am adventurous. She was naturally happy,” George says, adding that he visited Greece six times last year.
“I’m trying to do two things. Work and come to Greece.”
Expansion in London, Cyprus, Lebanon, Turkey
His plans are ambitious. After all, coffee and entrepreneurship run through his veins.
“Today I woke up, put on my clothes, and came straight to the store. To talk to Eleni about what went well and what didn’t the previous day. I like entrepreneurship,” George says.
I ask him about his future plans after the opening of the Roasting Warehouse Athens.
“First of all, we want to do the best for the customer. My philosophy is to give the best experience to the customer, and that’s why we created the largest store in Melbourne. I have specialised staff who ask customers if they liked the food, the coffee. If something went wrong, we will solve it on the spot. If we don’t solve it, the customer won’t come back,” he says.
“I do what I love. In Greece, I will give you the food that is very popular in Melbourne, the freddo, and excellent service.”
George has entrusted the Australian executive chef, David Stewart, with the delicacies of Roasting Warehouse Athens. At the same time, the Roasting Warehouse brand is beginning to spread.
“They always said Greece was in the most strategic location on the planet. So I decided to expand. In London, I’ve made a deal with a professional cricket player, who is already in training. We will sell coffee wholesale. This is our main business. Additionally, we are close to an agreement with Cyprus, Turkey, and Lebanon,” George explains.
One thing is certain – the Roasting Warehouse Athens has already become the hangout spot for the Greek Australian community in Athens.
This year’s commemorative service at the Lemnos Gallipoli Memorial in Albert Park’s Lemnos Square was held on Saturday 10th August and was blessed with sunny weather.
The service has been held annually since the unveiling of the impressive Memorial in August 2015. The Memorial was commissioned by the Melbourne-based Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee and designed and created by one of Australia’s most famous commemorative sculptors, Peter Corlett OAM.
Captain Ryan Curtis (right) with AHEPA Victoria’s Peter Patisteas OAM and Melbourne Shrine CEO Dean Lee. Photo: Jim Claven OAM.Historian and Secretary of the Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee Jim Claven OAM with proud Lemnian George Skiadis. Photo: Jim Claven OAM.
The Lemnos Gallipoli Memorial symbolises the connection between the northern Aegean island of Lemnos and Australia through the ANZAC story. It was the first major memorial dedicated to commemorating the Hellenic link to ANZAC through the role of Lemnos in the Gallipoli campaign. The service is held on the second Saturday of August each year in recognition of the arrival of the Australian nurses to Lemnos in August 1915.
The main feature is two larger than life size statues – one of an Australian nurse and the other a sick or lightly wounded Australian soldier. The nurse is inspired by the iconic photograph of Matron Grace Wilson on Lemnos during the Gallipoli campaign. The two stand and sit upon the sandstone plinth, inspired by the golden colour of the stones of Lemnos’ ancient amphitheatre at Ifestia. The words Lemnos and Gallipoli, as well as the names of the island’s villages where the ANZACs walked, are etched into the stone in both Greek and English. Drawing on his research into Ancient Greece’s sculpture, Mr Corlett placed the face of the Goddess Artemis on the nurse.
Congratulations to Committee members Vicki Kyritsis and Arlene Bennett for again making sure the wreath laying went smoothly as planned. Photo: Jim Claven OAM.
The Memorial was created as a result of a massive fundraising campaign which garnered the support of Federal, State and Local government as well as trade unions, community organisations and many individuals, including descendants of those young Australians who served on Lemnos and those Lemnians who welcomed them.
Over 80 people gathered at the Memorial to take part in the service. They included many dignitaries and descendants of Lemnos veterans, as well as representatives of many service, commemorative and Hellenic community organisations. The latter included representatives from the Pammessinian Brotherhood, Kalamata Society, the Dodecanese Federation, the Imvrian Society, the Kytherian Association, AHEPA Victoria, the Hellenic RSL Sub-Branch, the Australian Hellenic Memorial Foundation, the Battle of Crete and Greece Commemorative Council and the George Treloar Memorial Committee – along with many of Lemnian heritage – to name a few. The Greek Community of Melbourne Board was represented by Vice-President Dr Jim Bossinakis and Dr Spridoula Demetriou. Most importantly, the attendees included many descendants of Lemnos veterans.
Some of those who attended the Lemnos Gallipoli Memorial service at Lemnos Square Albert Park. Photo: Jim Claven OAM.
As the attendees arrived, they were welcomed by the sound of the bagpipes, played by the Committee’s piper Stacey Harris. The bagpipes are played at each service in honour of Scottish Anzac Warrant Officer Archibald Monk who led the Australian nurses to the 3rd Australian General Hospital camp while playing his bagpipes. This was especially auspicious in that amongst the attendees this year were descendants of Archibald Monk, many of who had travelled from New South Wales for the service. They were joined by descendants of one of the Australian nurses who was welcomed by Archibald all those years ago – Nurse Evelyn Hutt.
The service was conducted by Master of Ceremonies Lee Tarlamis OAM MP who began by welcoming all to the event and reading a message from the Mayor of Lemnos, Eleonora George. In her note, she expressed the commitment of Lemnos and its people to continue to honour this important connection and joint heritage that links Australia and the island. Lemnos looked forward to the completion of the Lemnos Remembrance Trail and continuing to work with the Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee to commemorate the joint history.
Historian Jim Claven OAM with the descendants of Lemnos veteran Warrant Officer Archibald Monk. Photo: Jim Claven OAM.
A number of addresses were made, including by the Greek Consul in Melbourne Emmanuel Kakavelakis who was attending the annual service for the last time as he will be taking up a new diplomatic post in the New Year. Mr Tarlamis thanked Emmanuel for his active support of the Committee’s commemorative work over many years and wished him well for the future.
Other addresses included those by the Mayor of Port Phillip Cr Heather Cunsolo, Josh Burns Federal MP for Macnamara on behalf of the Federal Minister for Veteran’s Affairs, Nick Staikos MP for Bentleigh on behalf of the Victorian State Government, and David Davis MP on behalf of the Victorian State Opposition.
A feature of the service is the involvement of local school students. Students from Albert Park College and Oakleigh Grammar were again in attendance, with Albert Park’s School Captain Agnes McCallum and House Captain James Keating performing a reading of Vera Brittain’s poignant war poem – The Sisters Buried at Lemnos by Vera Brittain, written in reference to the two Canadian nurses buried on Lemnos. Oakleigh Grammar was represented by Middle School Captain’s John Aivaliotis and Connie Lekkas as well as Year 11 SRC members Michaela Millar and Eleni Koutsandonis.
Captain Ryan Curtis addresses the crowd. Photo: Jim Claven OAM.
The keynote address at this year’s service was delivered by Captain Ryan Curtis of the Australian Army. A descendant of Archibald Monk, Captain Curtis outlined the Gallipoli campaign and Lemnos’ role in it, emphasising the key medical role made by the various military medical units that were based there. One of these units was the 3rd Australian General Hospital where Archibald served as an orderly and were Evelyn Hutt served as a nurse. He described the conditions at Gallipoli and on Lemnos and said that despite these, the medical units achieved outstanding results. He pointed out that thankfully Archibald survived the war and eventually returned to Sydney where he established his family.
The service then proceeded to the wreath laying, with some taking up the Committee’s suggestion of laying a copy of historian Jim Claven’s book Lemnos & Gallipoli Revealed, which can then be gifted to a school or other such organisation to further spread awareness of the role of Lemnos in Gallipoli. This was followed by the reading of The Ode by Prue Cox, Vice-President of the Returned Nurses Victorian RSL Sub Branch and the playing of the Last Post.
Dr Spridoula Demetriou and Dr Jim Bossinakis lay a wreath on behalf of the Greek Community of Melbourne. Photo: Jim Claven OAM.
Mr Tarlamis concluded the service outlining some of the Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee’s achievements such as our pictorial exhibition on Lemnos and in Athens as part of the Anzac Centenary in 2015, the Lemnos Gallipoli Memorial and naming of Lemnos Square, the Australian Pier Memorial on Lemnos, the publication of Lemnos & Gallipoli Revealed and Mr Claven’s work with the Lemnos Remembrance Trail project as Secretary of the Committee.
Local State MP Nick Staikos (left) addresses the crowd. Photo: Jim Claven OAM.
Mr Tarlamis thanked everyone for taking the time to attend the service.
“We all live busy lives and time is precious. But by your attendance today, you have played a part in keeping alive the memory of the service of all those young Australians who came to Lemnos over 100 years ago. Some would not leave, remaining on the island in its war graves. And we remember the local Lemnians who welcomed these young men and women, creating the bond between Australians and Greeks that continues to this day. Lest we forget,” Mr Tarlamis said.
The Committee’s new documentary project – ANZAC The Greek Chapter – is scheduled to be shown at the Greek Film Festival in Melbourne and Sydney in October, with other screenings planned for other states and community venues. Watch this space. For information contact Committee Secretary Jim Claven OAM – jimclaven@yahoo.com.au.
Former President of the Hellenic Women’s Federation of Victoria, Sofia Mastoris OAM was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer about a year ago, at the same time her breast cancer returned for a third time.
Sofia met with Mr Russell Hodgson, Hepatitis-Pancreatico-Biliary specialist and general surgeon at Northern Hospital, a number of times prior to the surgery. She described him as kind and knowledgeable.
Sofia was diagnosed with breast cancer and undertook a number of tests. More lumps were found upon testing and Mr Hodgson informed her that surgery represented her best chance of survival. After careful consideration, they both agreed to this approach.
Hepatitis-Pancreatico-Biliary specialist and general surgeon, Mr Russell Hodgson.
Sofia was scheduled to have surgery during Holy Week this year but postponed the surgery. She felt nervous right up until the day of the surgery. The surgery ended up taking place on 15 May 2024 and Sofia spent two weeks recuperating.
Mr Hodgson said, “Sofia recovered from her operation far quicker than we thought likely, given her age.”
Sofia added, “I believed the operation would be successful and that I would open my eyes at the other end. The first thing I saw when I did open my eyes, was Mr Hodgson.”
Sofia has been told she’s the oldest patient at Northern Health to have this surgery. She is now home and on the road to making a full recovery. Sofia wanted to make this story known to express her deep gratitude for Mr Hodgson and his team for the skill, dedication, and compassionate care provided. She also said having skilled medical professionals in healthcare is an important issue to highlight.
Northern Hospital in Epping, Victoria. Photo: Sparks and Partners Consulting Engineers.
Sofia is hopeful for the future and her appreciation for being given another chance at life.
Mr Hodgson said, “Pancreatic cancer is often difficult to treat and sometime the only chance of cure is a long and dangerous operation, that needs a lot of dedicated people throughout the hospital. For some people, surgery is not an option, or thought to be dangerous. Throughout Sofia’s decision to have surgery and her admission to Northern Health, she was fantastic to work with and had a lot of admirers from all the different people who met her. I have enjoyed my role in looking after Sofia through her decision making and journey and wish her well for the next steps.”
“Anyone who would like to support people like Sofia in their journey with pancreatic cancer, should look at the Northern Health Foundation and Pancare websites,” Mr Hodgson added.
The Western Australia government plan to seize City of Perth land to build a $150 million inner-city primary school expected to be running by 2029 to ease overcrowding in the state’s public school system.
The Labor state government and the City of Perth have been entangled in a dispute over the future of East Perth Primary School for months.
Perth Lord Mayor and Liberal Party candidate, Basil Zempilas has criticised the state government’s decision, accusing them of bullying and stealing.
“Every time this state government doesn’t get its own way, they spit the dummy, and change legislation to bully their way through,” Zempilas said on social media platform X.
“They should not use their position of power to effectively steal people’s land. West Australians should be horrified by this government’s conduct… Where will it stop? The arrogance of absolute power…
“They are taking land they valued at $40 million off the ratepayers of the City of Perth — for nothing. This is outrageous.”
WA Education Minister Tony Buti said his government had been in “constant” negotiations with the city since April 2023. He’s hoping the school will be open for the first day of term in 2029 and blamed the council for the delay.
