Clare ONeil, federal Labor MP for Hotham and Labor Minister for Housing and Minister for Homelessness, announced today that if re-elected, an Albanese government “will commit $4.5 million in order to construct a Greek Cultural hub in the heart of Greek Australia-Oakleigh”, as she states. Oakleigh of course, is also the heart of her own electorate…
It will be a $4 million state of the art Cultural and Language Enrichment Centre, next to St Anargiri Greek Orthodox Church, she stated, as she explained that the extra $500,000 will be given towards additional works on the site.
This pre-election announcement, requires some thought, therefore… Allow me to think aloud.
1. How many Greek Cultural Hubs do we really need/ can we really manage/sustain in Melbourne?
2. What sort of Greek/Greek Australian culture do we highlight in the capital of Australia’s Hellenism?
3. Why is it, and instead of supporting the most visible and most significant cultural contributor organisation in Victoria, that is, the Greek Orthodox Community of Melbourne and Victoria (GOCMV), the Albanese Labor government disregards this organisation once again? And “sides” with the Greek Archdiocese of Australia, regardless of whether or not the local community organisation is formally a part of the Archdiocese?
4. Is it because they mistakenly think the Church will actively support #Labor? When the Church, like all other Greek-Australian organisations, has zero influence in the political behaviour and outlook of Australians of Greek heritage?
5. Is it because the current leadership of the GOCMV is a political “lightweight” that does not know how to lobby effectively?
6. Will someone tell this government, or any other political party with similar policy perceptions, that its approach to migrant communities in Australia can be taken as an insult as well?
7. Will we ever learn for example, that if we are really fair dinkum about our country, our society, our history and our multiculturalism, the time is long overdue to make the migrant and the Greek Australian story part of the wider Australian story/narrative?
8. Will we ever accept that “migrant” languages are also Australian languages and that their teaching should be actively supported in the public school system as well?
9. Is Labor conversing with its Greek or other migrant heritage members, in order to formulate a more informed and a more genuine policy relationship with the Greek/migrant Australian community?
10. Finally, how “real” are these announcements? Do they have strings attached? I’m asking, because as far as we know, the $10 million promised in the 2022 election campaign, for the Archdiocese Cultural Centre at Axion Esti in Northcote, Melbourne, as well as the $25 million promised for the creation of an Archdiocese Centre in Sydney, these amounts, were never delivered to the promised hands…
