During his visit to Melbourne, Greece’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Ioannis Loverdos and other ministers met with the Greek Community of Melbourne (GCM).
Speaking with GCM President Bill Papastergiadis and the board, they discussed issues such as improvement through the digitisation of the provided consular services, and also the possibility of all Greeks abroad to exercise their right to vote without any restrictions.
“Greece is close to you, values and respects you,” Loverdos said.
Later at a cocktail party on the Mezzanine level of the Greek Centre, Loverdos gave a speech that was thankful and humorous, having the crowd laugh at times.
He joked that his 20-day journey from Athens to Dubai to Sydney then to New Zealand and back to Australia, in Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne then Adelaide and Perth to come was no issue because he’s 25-years-old, compared to his colleagues “who are old and tired”.
“I care about the feelings that you showed me and you made me proud to be in Australia as a Greek, as a Greek representative of the Greek state. You’re all awesome and I love you as you love me,” he said.
He said Greece is not the cities, the islands, the mountains and so on, but rather is our civilisation and culture that goes on for 35 centuries.
“It’s the Greek language, it’s the Greek Orthodoxy. I’m very fond of Orthodoxy not because it’s a religion, but because it’s a part of our national identity,” he said.
He also spoke on what Greece has given to the world in philosophy, mathematics, architecture, sciences, medicine, art, theatre, drama and democracy.
President of the Greek Community of Melbourne Bill Papastergiadis thanked the deputy minister and other dignitaries for coming to Melbourne.
He also spoke of the broader Greek community and “our capacity to work collegiately across a variety of different sectors, whether it’s with church, sporting organisations, organisations that offer important services towards the elderly or those in need, or whether it’s our organisations that are involved in trade, law, medicine and a variety of other fields”.
“The great thing is we work collegiately, we work well together and through that very beneficial and productive relationship I think we’re leaving something better than what we found but obviously developing and coming from foundations of those that were before us,” he said.
Julian Hill MP also thanked the Deputy Foreign Minister for coming to Melbourne, “one of the great Greek cities of the world”.
“Half a million Australians now claiming Greek ancestry… the largest share of the Greek Australian population lives in my home city of Melbourne so thank you for being here,” he said.
“Thank you also in your remarks for reminding us of the Greek inheritance to the entire world but particularly to Western civilisation.
“Thank you to the Greek community in Melbourne for the contribution that you’ve made over decades and continue to make.
“I couldn’t imagine a city without the contribution of Greek Australians in every facet of Australian life.”
After the speeches gifts were exchanged before the entire room then sang the Greek national anthem.
