I’m talking to the Victorian state MP John Pandazopoulos in the ‘chook shed’, the name used by Victoria’s parliamentarians when referring to the offices at the back of the Parliament building. A vocal advocate for increased dialogue between Australia, other diaspora nations – and Greece, Pandazopoulos has recently returned from Athens, and is keen to remind me, that batting for the Hellenic Republic comes with its own risks.
“People don’t realise, even though we’re of Greek heritage, it’s in none of our political interests to work on issues relating to Greece. The reality is, we do this stuff at our own political expense. We do this stuff, because, in Melbourne, in the third biggest Greek city in the world, you cannot not engage on these things. They’re important to us.”
The most recent media attention Pandazopoulos has received, focused on his last visit to the Greek capital in July, in his role as President of the World Hellenic Inter-Parliamentary Association (WHIA) – MPs from diaspora nations who are invited to attend a bi-annual conference in Greece, financed by the Greek Parliament.
Pandazaopoulos was presiding over the 8th General Assembly of the association, and the twenty-nine delegates attending (seven of whom were from Australia) had their travel and accommodation paid for by the Greek Parliament. The trip raised eyebrows, largely because it was taking place within days of the same parliament implementing a swathe of savage pay cuts and tax increases on its own citizens. Pandazopoulos’ critics felt the conference was, if not ill-conceived, certainly ill-timed. But the Victorian MP isn’t any stranger to attention when it comes to his passion for Australian – Greek relations.
“The cost of democracy is having to spend money,” says the former Tourism minister, who says he was not offended by accusations of ‘junketing’ made by some media in Victoria about last month’s trip to Athens. “I don’t get offended by the Herald Sun, because they’ll always have a go.” What the Victorian MP did take exception to, he says, was political colleagues who “when it became a media story, decided to be critics and withdraw from the conference.”
Though it’s clear Pandazopoulos has as thick a skin as any state pollie, attacks by the media and particularly criticism from within his own party and community, rankle with the former Tourism minister. “This is a competitive game,” says the MP, hinting obliquely at possible motivations for some of his detractors, “people always want your job.”
“We were guests of the Greek Government. We ran a conference that cost 80,000 euro this year, that two years ago cost 50,000 euro. Some people had business class fares, not all. Should it be economy? That’s under review. It was an offer that the Greek Government wanted to make for those travelling long-haul because the day we arrived we were starting work.”
Pandazopolous is adamant that the inter-parliamentary association is worth his and others’ time, as well as the Greek Parliament’s continuing investment. “As politicians we’re facing similar issues. If you’re trying to deal with climate change, you have to talk to other politicians around the world. The Greek diaspora community are facing the same challenges. This is about politician to politician relationships. At the end of the day, politicians drive public policy. The whole idea is about knowledge building, politicians having to talk to each other, not just government bureaucracy to government bureaucracy.”
This year’s WHIA assembly ended with a raft of worthy resolutions, from expressing the association’s support for ‘the settlement of a just fair solution to the Cyprus issue’, to proposing that ‘forces of the Hellenism all over the world unite for the enhancement, economic stability and development of Greece.’ Sessions in the conference involved meetings between the diaspora delegates and over seventy Greek MPs, as wells as representatives of key Greek parliamentary standing committees – defence, foreign affairs, as well as cultural and educational policy areas.
A two-hour meeting with the standing committee on education policy and subsequent discussion around mechanisms for promoting Greek language teaching in the diaspora nations, resulted in recommendations to the committee to review the funding priorities for language teaching, and to concentrate resources in countries where they are most needed. Pandazopoulos feels the language education issue is one example of how the inter-parliamentary association has been able to offer new insights, and suggest reforms to the Greek system, from the common perspective of the diaspora: “It’s about us being able to sit there with Greece and give them the confidence to change their policies.”
As the interview concludes, given the flak Pandazopoulos gets for his efforts, and the Herculean tasks needed to influence aspects of Greece’s political landscape and societal difficulties, is it worth it, I ask? “I get a lot of satisfaction from it, but it’s not about me wanting to do stuff. We feel for our country of origin. We live in a multicultural country that says you don’t have to forget where you come from, maybe it’s a Melbourne thing,” says the ALP Member for Dandenong.
“We’re not here to solve the Greek economy’s problems, we’re here to lend ideas, share support, do the things we can influence. We can show Greece that the diaspora can support it in some way, they need to hear from us about the negative and the positive.”