Just four weeks out from the Victorian state election, education and health are shaping up to be the most important issues for the Greek community.
We would prefer the government to be more direct in its dealings with school council, in terms of having the capacity to enforce whatever direction it has.
Greek Orthodox Community of Melbourne and Victoria (GOCMV) President, Bill Papastergiadis, said he’d like to see state government getting more involved with school councils.
He said that while the Brumby Government has been encouraging, the GOCMV has had “difficulties” negotiating with school councils for use of facilities for after school care courses, and the inclusion of Modern Greek in Languages Other Than English (LOTE) programs.
“We would prefer the government to be more direct in its dealings with school council, in terms of having the capacity to enforce whatever direction it has,” he said.
“Because at Wales Street Primary for example the government has fully funded the LOTE program for Greek, and the school won’t implement it.”
Mr Papastergiadis said the state government is currently preparing a policy on LOTE, and he’s looking forward to seeing Greek feature, and added that the GOCMV has good relations with the Labor and Liberal parties in Victoria.
“We’re happy with the government in terms of its policies on multiculturalism, in how it engages with the communities,” he said.
Hellenic Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (HACCI) committee member, Roula Tsiolas, said the most pressing issue is the inclusion of Modern Greek on the national curriculum. She said the issue affects more than simply education.
“It affects a lot of Greek community issues – Greek community businesses and Greek community schools,” she said.
“We’ll be lobbying that quite extensively, you’ll certainly hear about that,” she said.
On the issue of the economy, Ms Tsiolas said both parties are capable of ensuring Victoria’s recent economic stability continues.
Modern Greek Teachers’ Association of Victoria (MGTAV) President Manthos Kokkinakis, returning from Sydney for a meeting about the national curriculum, agrees it’s the most pressing state issue in the Victorian election.
But he said he isn’t worried about the continuing presence of Modern Greek in Victorian schools and after care programs.
“We’ve got some wonderful programs, and the local government has reiterated a million times that they’re looking at three things: continuity, quality and network affiliation,” he said, adding that the MGTAV have a good working relationship with both the Labor and Liberal parties in Victoria.
But Fronditha Care CEO, Penny Michael, called for more flexibility in the state health system, to meet the changing needs of elderly Greek Australians.
“It’s about providing a number of choices in terms of care needs,” she said, adding that the system needs to provide more interpreter services.
She also stressed the need for state and federal governments to work together on hospitals.
“We can’t be negotiating between different levels of government as to whose responsibility it is,” she said.
Ms Michael said Fronditha would continue to work with whichever party forms government, and she understood health was a difficult area of state policy.
“It’s a high-cost area, it’s a high-need area, but at the end of the day people require services and this has to be met,” she said.