Category: Greek/Australian

Sydney Olympic Football Club Ltd expresses its delight and appreciation with the decision by the City of Canterbury to grant long term tenure agreements to it and to Bulldogs Rugby League Club Ltd for the use of Belmore Sports Ground, Peter Moore Field and Tasker Park for a period of 21 years.

In Council’s recently released Public Notice titled ’Belmore Sportsground/Peter Moore Field — Tasker Park’, it has made public that its decision to grant a lease to the Bulldogs is on the condition that “among other things [it is] obliging the lessee club to in turn grant to Sydney Olympic Football Club Ltd both a partial sublease…of office space within the grandstand…and a periodic licence” for use of the Club for its football fixtures.

The Board is excited with the decision of Council and expects the finalisation of the agreements to the Bulldogs and Olympic to bring all three closer together as members of the culturally diverse City of Canterbury.

Sydney Olympic FC Director Chris Tsioulos expressed his personal delight at the news.

“It’s great to see,” he said. “Belmore has been the home of Sydney Olympic for years, but now we can be sure it will be our home for the next 21 years.”

Tsioulos was quick to point out that the hard work of the Board, in cooperation with Council and the Bulldogs, was crucial to securing the lease.

“It hasn’t been a walk in the park,” Tsioulos grinned, “but our relationship with Canterbury Council and with the Bulldogs is much more positive and stronger as a result,” he stated.

“Our Club now has long-term, 21-year agreements for the use of improved facilities at Tasker Park, Peter Moore Field and of course Belmore Sports Ground, and that’s a great thing.”

The Public Notice from the City of Canterbury can be found online here: http://www.canterbury.nsw.gov.au/www/html/3515-public-notices–belmore-sportsgroundpeter-moore-field.asp

Head down to the George Street Greek Festival and enjoy a great weekend out with quality entertainment and Greek culture at its best.

Maria Stavropoulou performing both days along with International Act Lefteris Poulis (violinist) known as Skantzakas and Kosmos Band palying the best Greek songs all weekend. Plenty of Greek and multicultural dance groups, kids entertainment and as always Greek food and sweets.

When: Saturday 8 Dec, 2pm to 12am and Sunday 9 Dec, 12pm to 9pm

Where: George Street, Thebarton – Free Entry

A presentation about the life, times and influence of Melina Mercouri will be held by Dr Andrew Horton, of the Film Program at the University of Oklahoma, at the Greek Orthodox Community Club on Sunday 9 December.

An internationally renowned award winning screenwriter and the author of twenty three books on film, screenwriting and cultural studies, his films include Brad Pitt’s first feature, The Dark Side of the Sun and the much awarded Something in Between (l983, Yugoslavia, directed by Srdjan Karanovic).

He has given screenwriting workshops around the world including Norway, Germany, England, the Czech Republic, Greece, New Zealand, Switzerland and throughout the United States and we are fortunate enough to have him speak at the Greek Orthodox Community Club.

Dr Horton lived and worked in Greece for over eight years during the Junta period in the ’60s, and was personally associated with Melina and her filmmaking husband Jules Dassin.

His presentation will share Melina’s influence as a person, as an actress, as a Greek activist against the Junta, and finally as the Minister for Culture in the latter part of her life, assisting the cultural growth of Greece in theatre, film, and the other arts.

The presentation will be accompanied by excerpts of some of her most famous films including Stella (1955), Never on Sunday (1960), Topkapi (1964) and A Dream of Passion (1978).

Dr Horton is currently working on a script based on the life of Melina Mercouri I Was Born Greek! Perhaps we can all agree, Greece today needs another Melina or someone like her to help “make a difference in hard times” said Assoc.

Professor Vrasidas Karalis, Sydney University Modern Greek Department. This rare opportunity to see Dr Horton speak about one of Greece’s most influential women will take place Sunday 9 December, 5:30 pm at the Greek Orthodox Community Club, 206-210 Lakemba Street, Lakemba.

A conference on the current crisis in Greece will be held between 7-9 December, through the Modern Greek Studies Association of Australia and New Zealand and the Department of Modern Greek Studies at the University of Sydney.

This is the university’s 11th biannual international conference and they have dedicated this year to the most current and most disastrous event in recent Greek history. The main topic is how the current is expressed and manifested in various aspects of Greek social, political and cultural life. Speakers from all over the world will discuss the issues in a dispassionate and detached attempt to understand how such a profound collapse in political authority and social cohesion took occurred.

One must be reminded that until 2006-7, Greece presented the appearance of a “successful integration” in the eurozone, with high growth rates and as it seemed back then minimal external debt. The conference however addresses something deeper than the actual collapse of economy; it explores the crisis of authority that we see at the moment as the ultimate consequence of the failure of the Greek political order to renew itself.

It investigates how such loss of authority is expressed in issues of historical awareness, issues of social democracy with the rise of neo-Nazism and finally issues regarding the conceptual frameworks that Greeks used in the past to talk about themselves. In such an investigation literary and artistic representations are also found to suffer under the current crisis; the euphoric and innocent images of Zorba the Greek have all but vanished and for the first time we start talking about historical errors, lack of transparency and structural deficiencies.

Indeed we are at a very strange point in modern history that we can actually confirm that the existing cultural symbols are not sufficient any more to encompass the complexity and the confusion of contemporary Greek experience. As one of the organisers of the conference I think that the pillars of modern Greek culture continue to be, unfortunately, isolated individuals, who instituted patterns and representations of self-awareness either in opposition to the dominant culture in the country or in the diaspora.

Theodoros Angelopoulos and C. P. Cavafy seem to dominate most of the discussions. Language remains one of the most critical areas of investigation while the gray areas of historical knowledge also become central. Modern writing and contemporary art are also discussed because they are the first that illustrated the approaching earthquake that destroyed the immoral practices of the post-Metapolitesfi period. An interesting aspect of the conference is that most contemporary scholars are indeed post-ideological; indeed from the point of view of the left, they reject almost all practices of the left parties and see them as part of the overall problem in the country.

Another, unhappy, realisation from the conference is that Modern Greek studies have shrunk dramatically in Australia. The great centre of Hellenism, Melbourne, is spectacularly absent as academic life has all but collapsed there. Indeed most academics who deal with Greek issues do not belong to Modern Greek studies and this is a tragic impoverishment for the discipline.

We tried to bring people from other areas, artists, thinkers and writers who explore contemporary Greek experiences in order to cover the loss; we also want to investigate new forms of expression (such as opera) and new forms of interpretations such as post/post-modernism or approaches based on critical rationality. After so many decades of Greek studies in the Antipodes we have the privilege to celebrate our achievements and at the same time to assess our losses.

The Conference is open to anyone who would like to participate and address some of the issues we want to discuss; maybe in the diaspora, we are able to retain and enhance the democratic element in modern Greek social life which suffers greatly in the Metropolis. For the complete program of the conference visit http://sydney.edu.au/arts/modern_greek/about/events/index.shtml?id=1797

The Australian Greek Welfare Society’s General Meeting uncovered a new trend this year. With an influx of new Greek migrants, there has been new demand on services and some demand on services that were non-existent. With the relaxing of immigration laws for Greeks, the influx of demand has seen the Society re-open and create new services to meet demand.

Executive Director Voula Messimeri says the requests have led to more provisions being provided to those seeking assistance. “We have experienced a substantial demand for services by people who are new to Australia. AGWS has responded to the needs of this new group in our community by the provision of casework, counselling, emergency relief and the establishment of a free Migration Agent Information and Referral Service,” she says.

It is something President Nicholas Katris sees as surprising, when it looks like history is repeating itself. “The recent influx of migrants… has in many ways seen history repeat itself with AGWS casework services offering assistance to newly arrived-Greek migrants who are presenting with different needs,” he said. The Annual General Meeting was a chance for the President and Executive Director to properly say thanks for the hard work accomplished this year. Both acknowledged the amazing response from the community with their national radiothon raising $85,000, their biggest sum yet.

On top of that, the Society has taken on 259 new Greek speaking elders for their Community Partners Program and seen their Greek Legal Information and Referral Service continue into a 13th year. The Society has also delivered more than 26,000 hours of community and centre based respite care to carers, providing relief from their thankless work. 231 young and old people with disabilities were helped to stay engaged and remain in the community, with a total of almost 49,000 hours given to assist the activity groups in multiple locations.

The Society marked its 40th anniversary this year, showing a dedication to the Greek Community unsurpassed by other organisations. As Mr Katris says, AGWS was created for and is still about “lobbing the rights of migrants and their children and improve services particularly in the areas of education, health, welfare, childcare and language services”.

The Bank of Cyprus has chosen to rebrand itself and will now be known as Delphi Bank.

The change comes following the license to the name expiring recently, requiring them to seek other non-listed names. Marketing manager, Stephanie Apostolopoulos says rebranding was necessary.

“We only had license to the BOCA for twelve months – essentially the rebranding in naming and visual identity was required,” she told Neos Kosmos.

Delphi Bank formally relaunched itself at the Sofitel Hotel in Melbourne Thursday night with invited guests being treated to drinks, food and a live jazz band. The bank is hoping to build on the strong connection it has to the Greek community with the new name.

Delphi is the ancient city home to the famous Delphic Oracle which would relay cryptic messages to those who asked her questions. CEO George Tacticos says the new name fits well with the company’s outlook. “Delphi Bank represents three important pillars we have worked hard to cement: business, community and family,” Mr Tacticos says.

“The name Delphi Bank represents a journey of growth and opportunity and it has an important link with our Hellenic culture” Delphi bank is a member of Bendigo Bank and Adelaide Bank and has been in Australia for more than 10 years.

Mike Hirst, the Managing Director of Bendigo and Adelaide Banks says the brand is a valuable addition to the bank’s overall brand offering. “Delphi Bank has a unique value proposition for the Hellenic community and works to strengthen the groups overall position,” he said.

“The Delphi Bank brand – and indeed their business and value proposition- is completely in line with our community Bank model, as many customers choose to bank with us due to our understanding and engagement with the local community and our commitment to our customer.” Delphi Bank operates in Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia.

A change of scheduling for the Greek program on SBS radio will occur in April next year following a major review of language programs on the station.

As of mid-April 2013, the Greek program will air daily for two hours from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm as opposed to the current time slot of two times a day for an hour each at 7:00 am to 8:00 am and 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm.

The new radio schedule came after a major review of the SBS Radio Schedule and took into consideration the changing landscape and demographics of Australia which include a drop in numbers of Greek speakers in Australia and the emergence of third and fourth generations over first generations.

SBS has released a new Radio Schedule to be launched on-air in April 2013. The new Radio Schedule will bring the languages broadcast on SBS’s analogue radio service into line with today’s Australia.

The last major review of the SBS Radio Schedule was more than 18 years ago in 1994, and during that time Australia’s demographics have changed significantly.

From April 2013 SBS will provide services for more language communities than ever before. SBS will continue producing content in all languages on the current radio schedule and will introduce six new language programs. The total number of language programs on the new SBS Radio Schedule will increase from 68 to 74 language programs, and SBS will continue to be the most multilingual radio broadcaster in the world.

Below you will find details on the new SBS Radio Schedule including how languages were selected and the new broadcast times from April 2013.

Find your language on the new SBS Radio Schedule, on-air April 2013

If you are a foreign (not Greek and not EU) national, you do not have Greek ancestry, you have not obtained the Greek citizenship via your ancestors and you do not have a residence permit, neither a visa for stay in Greece, you are now going to be able to obtain the right to reside in Greece by purchasing real estate property in the country.

This is not yet enacted law, passed by the Greek Parliament. However, according to the Greek press, the Greek government has prepared a bill for boosting foreign investment in Greece.

When the bill becomes law, it will state that any foreign national who is willing to invest in Greece a minimum of 300,000 euros in the real estate market, will be able to obtain a residence permit for a long period of time (possibly for five years initially). The requirement will be to buy in Greece property worth of 300,000 euros at least.

Although more details of the bill have not been published yet, it must be noted that under the basic rules of European Union law, any person legally residing in one member state (like Greece), has the right to travel and, under conditions, to reside in any other member state of the European Union.

As a result of such rules, foreign nationals of third countries (who are not EU citizens, as in that case they have the right of residence anywhere in the EU, anyway), who obtain a residence permit in Greece by purchasing property, will also enjoy free travel and possibly residence rights in other European countries. *Christos Iliopoulos is an attorney at the Supreme Court of Greece , LL.M. To contact Christos e-mail: bm-bioxoi@otenet.gr or ktimatologiolaw@yahoo.gr