Members of the Greek Orthodox Community of NSW have unanimously approved plans for the construction of a modern state-of-the-art community centre, a source of pride for Hellenism in Australia.

Haris Danalis, President of the Greek Orthodox Community of NSW, told Neos Kosmos that agreement for the project came at the Annual General Meeting, and said that the budget for the plan, expected to be completed in five years, is slated at $15-17 million.

“The next stage is the completion of the plans and their approval,” he said.

The new centre will be erected at land held by the Community in Lakemba, a suburb south west of Sydney.

“The land is at 5,400 sq metres, and our goal is to create an ultra-modern centre which will have everything: conference rooms, events facilities, a theatre, a cinema, exhibition centre and space for our archives,” he said.

READ MORE: The Greek Community of NSW will build a state-of-the-art cultural centre

Mr Danalis said that the Community already has $6-7 million from the sale of its building at Paddington, Sydney, and will seek sponsorship from the federal and state governments.

“The Cultural Centre will be a legacy which we will leave for future generations,” he said, adding that the community already has a leadership role in the matter of Greek language learning in Australia.”

Another role of the community is to fight for the preservation of Greek traditions, campaigning for multicultural policies, creating ties with Greece and the care of the elderly as well as initiatives to keep Greek youth engaged in community matters through events such as the Greek Festival of Sydney and Greek Film Festival.

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Mr Danalis denied rumours surrounding the sale of the Community’s aged care home.

“It is not true,” he said. “What is true, is that due to COVID-19 and some cases which the aged care home had, it was saddled with an additional million dollars in expenditure. They forced us to take a series of extra measures for the safety of residents. The experts told us that we could have cases in the future and they suggested we sell it. For the moment that is not our intention. Otherwise, for something like that to take place, it would need to be passed by the general assembly.”