The Association of Greek Elderly Citizens Clubs of Melbourne and Victoria has addressed a letter to conservative Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, to the opposition leaders, Alexis Tsipras (SYRIZA Radical Left Coalition), Fofi Gennimata (socialist Movement for Change), Dimitris  Koutsoumbas (Greek Communist Party), Kyriakos Velopoulos (Greek Solution), and Yanis Varoufakis (left-wing MeRA25), as well as to the House Speaker Konstandinos Tassoulas, rekindling the issue of a free-of-charge state ERT broadcasting in Australia.

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It reads:

Esteemed Sirs,

On behalf of the Association of Greek Elderly Citizens Clubs of Melbourne and Victoria, and its 22,000 members, we kindly urge you to consider the fact that all these people, cut off from social activities at their lives’ dusk, are housebound longing for the solace and company of ERT, which is unjustifiably denied to them.

Esteemed ladies and gentlemen of the Greek Parliament, bearing in mind that Australia is home to more than 500,000 first-generation Greeks – aside from the mass migration of young Greeks in the past 4-5 years –, it is fair to postulate that all the funds we invariably provide, via remittances or fundraisers aimed at our homeland, could easily counterbalance the Greek state’s expenses for a free-of-charge ERT in Australia.

Just as a token of our homeland’s care and concern towards senior Greek Australians, but also towards their children and grandchildren, wouldn’t it be beneficial if youngsters could watch Greek TV broadcasts and get to learn the Greek language? Wouldn’t it be to our homeland’s benefit if the large numbers of Greek newcomers to Australia, and especially their offspring, could actually choose between English-language television and the Greek state channel of ERT?

We warmly appeal to you urging you to deliberate on the issue, and come up with the proper decision, assessing the pros and cons for our country.

In anticipation of auspicious news,

Sincerely,
Yiannis Kostoulias

President of the Association of Greek Elderly Citizens Clubs of Melbourne and Victoria

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It is worth noting that as Martha Michopoulou of the Department of Development and Operation of ERT’s Broadcast Networks told Neos Kosmos, the channel itself has not yet been informed of the Greek Australians’ letter or its appeal.