This year’s ’25 March’ Greek National Day parade and event will be the last to be organised under the presidency of Antonis Tsourdalakis. The Melbourne parade will occur on Sunday, April 14, at 1:00 pm at Lakeside Stadium, Albert Park.
Tsourdalakis, and the organising committee secretary, Natasha Spanou, confirmed to Neos Kosmos that they would step down after this year’s parade.
“Right now, our only concern is to organise a magnificent parade,” Tsouredalakis told Neos Kosmos.
He and Spanou said that they will remain members of the committee. Spanou said she was completing her term of office as secretary of the National Anniversary Committee and hoped “the person who will take over will work with the same passion”.
“I think it is good to make changes because new ideas come with a new person taking a position,” Spanou said.
Unofficially, the deputy minister of the interior for Greece, Theodoros Livanios, may visit Australia. Members of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (IAO) in Athens have also been invited to the ’25 March’ Australian celebrations. The IAO was set up upon the initiative of the Hellenic Parliament. Archbishop Makarios of Australia and various state and commonwealth representatives will also attend in an official capacity.
Tsourdalakis told the committee members that the only feasible date was April 14 as March is cluttered with events such as Labour Day, Children’s Marathon, Grand Prix, and Catholic/Protestant Easter.
The 2023 parade, which was held on the same date as the Children’s Grand Marathon and in the same week of the Grand Prix, resulted in a significant traffic problem and confusion regarding access to the stadium and parking of vehicles.
