Labor’s newly-announced Shadow Minister for Seniors, Ageing and Youth Services, Jenny Mikakos, has stressed the need for ethno-specific services for Victoria’s ageing population.

We need to ensure that ethno-specific services such as Australian Greek Welfare Society (AGWS) in Brunswick, which services many of the northern suburbs, are adequately resourced.

“We need to ensure that ethno-specific services such as Australian Greek Welfare Society (AGWS) in Brunswick, which services many of the northern suburbs, are adequately resourced,” Ms Mikakos told Neos Kosmos.

“For an elderly person who doesn’t speak English as a first language, it’s even more difficult for them to navigate the kind of support that they need when they need home help, and often they are very reliant on their children to do the leg-work for them and make all the phone calls that need to be made.”

Ms Mikakos was announced as part of Labor’s shadow cabinet on Tuesday, which will be led by former Health Minister Daniel Andrews.

She said her focus would be on holding the new Baillieu government to account.

Ms Mikakos, who has served in the upper house since 1999, said she was disappointed in premier Ted Baillieu’s decision to appoint Nick Kotsiras as Minister for Multicultural Affairs, rather than keep the role himself.

“I was disappointed when Ted Baillieu announced that he’s retained arts but he hasn’t retained multicultural affairs in his portfolio as premier,” she said.
“I think it would have sent a very strong message to our various ethnic communities that this was a very strong priority area for the new premier himself, also at a personal level.”

The opposition leader, Mr Andrews, holds the portfolios of Multicultural and Veterans’ Affairs and the Shadow Ministry for Children and Young Adults.

With counting still underway in Ms Mikakos’ region of Northern Metropolitan, the Liberal Party Craig Ondarchie looks set to end with the final seat, held by retired Labor minister Theo Theophanous.

Ms Mikakos said a Liberal win in the seat, which would give them the balance of power in both houses of state government, would be disappointing.

“If they do end up with 22 out of the 41 seats in the upper house, they’ll be able to repeat the mistakes of the Kennett government, which is basically to ram legislation through both houses of parliament without appropriate scrutiny by the parliament,” she said.