I am glad that at this year’s Antipodes Festival/Glendi/Paniyiri the Labor Premier of Victoria Jacinta Allan told us that she has written to the British, asking them for the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece.
I am glad that she has acknowledged, along with other politicians who attended the Lonsdale St Glendi, that Greece and Greeks have contributed immensely to the history and to the culture of the West and of Australia.
Above all though, I’ll be glad if she supports in real and practical terms, the cultural, educational and societal needs of Australians of Greek descent in her own state.
Will her government support the learning of Greek language and culture, at the very few left Victorian public schools that offer relevant programs? Or at LaTrobe University? Because the Greek language and the Greek/migrant Australian history are also part of Australia’s languages and Australia’s many histories that make up the national narrative?
Will her government continue to offer real services to first generation Greek migrants who helped make Victoria what it is today? And I am not talking only about small grants here, of $1,000 or $2,000, to various senior citizen clubs. I am talking funding that enables for example equitable access to the health, justice and other services of the state. Will they ensure, for example, that hospitals, courts and other institutions will continue to offer interpreting and translation services?
How sensitive to these indicative fundamentals, are Australian politicians of Greek/migrant descent, community media and community leaders?
