Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has confirmed she will be attending this year’s Antipodes Greek Festival in Melbourne, as well as opposition leader Tony Abbott. This is the second consecutive year the leaders have attended the official launch held at 6:30 pm on the Saturday night of the festival.
President of the Greek Orthodox Community of Melbourne and Victoria, Bill Papastergiadis, says this shows “the appreciation towards the diaspora and Greek community” as well as the influence of the Greek community as a whole.
Melbourne has the largest population of Greeks in Australia and has one of the highest population of Greeks in the world. Given that this year is an election year, Ms Gillard and Mr Abbott may be vying to win the Greek vote.
Last year, the prime minister used the festival as the forum to make the announcement of donating $2 million to the building of the cultural centre of the Greek Orthodox Community of Melbourne and Victoria saying “the modernized space will house the proud history of the Greek community, presenting valuable files created with the passage of decades and will host special exhibitions and performances”.
Mr Papastergiadis added that he will be speaking with both the prime minister and opposition leader on issues affecting the Greek diaspora.
The Antipodes Greek Festival is expected to attract many other federal and state ministers, MPs and senators. After the official launch, their will be a free outdoor concert by Greek singer Michalis Hatzigiannis.