Leader of the opposition Tony Abbott has reaffirmed the coalition’s support of negotiations between Greece and Australia on a reciprocal Work and Holiday Visa in meeting held with the Greek Orthodox Community of Melbourne and Victoria.
Mr Abbott and his chief advisor, met with President Bill Papastergiadis and GOCMV board members Kostas Tsoubakos and Nick Parthimos, where they discussed a range of issues pertaining to the Greek community in Australia. They discussed community funding acknowledging further work needed to be undertaken to more efficiently allocate government resources to specifically target those Greek Australians most in need.
In particular, the need of a case officer to assist with Greek Australians returning to Australia and additional funding of an employee dealing with the Antipodes Language and Cultural Centre. Mr Abbott was sympathetic to explore how the Coalition can encourage the significant number of Greek speaking students to continue their Greek language education throughout their secondary schooling.
At the meeting, the GOCMV thanked Mr Abbott for his bipartisan support of the recent Federal Government grant of $2 million towards the new 14 Level GOCMV Cultural Centre to be built on Lonsdale Street. They provided Mr Abbott with an update on the progress of the project and also invited him to attend next year’s Antipodes Festival.
Mr Abbott took on board the issues and needs of the Greek community, as expressed in the meeting, and said he was committed to further meetings between his office and the GOCMV and shadow cabinet to find a resolution for these issues. He said he was committed to assisting Greek Australians and even looked towards his own ministry with the shadow cabinet position held by Sophie Mirabella and the parliamentary secretary position held by Arthur Sinodinos.
