Tim Hammond (Perth, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to draw the attention of the House to the Greek Glendi Festival that was recently held in my electorate by the Hellenic Community and that I was fortunate enough to attend. Russell Square in Northbridge was filled to the brim with market stalls, entertainment and food vendors. For those who are not aware, 'glendi' is the Greek word for 'party'. I was very pleased to be there with my family, attending the festival at the invitation of the Hellenic Community president, Mr Savvas Papasavvas. Thank you, Savvas, and your team for putting on such an impressive party.

I was joined at Glendi by some local Labor heroes, including Western Australian Labor leader, Mark McGowan; Labor candidate for the state seat of Perth, John Carey; Labor candidate for the state seat of Mount Lawley, Simon Millman; a swathe of volunteers; and also Margaret Quirk, our shadow minister for citizenship and multicultural interests and the member for Girrawheen.

A stand-out treat of the Glendi Festival was a world record attempt of the number of people actually dancing the Zorba dance at one time. I am not sure if the record was broken, but I can tell you from experience that the Zorba circle captured the entire park. I was only marginally successful in dancing it myself as, you will be aware, it requires two hands and I had a four-year-old on my hip at the time—but I gave it a go.

As I enjoyed my lunch—a souvlaki indeed—I spoke to members of the Greek community enjoying Glendi and was struck by the depth of the sense of history and patriotism associated with the Greek culture, a culture that stretches back literally millennia, to the start of history itself. It is appropriate to reflect on the human condition in the context of some ancient Greek myths. How compelling is the wisdom from antiquity that we still tell our children in Aesop's fables? Our democracy itself can trace its lineage directly to the Athenian city-state.

Among the world's most precious artefacts of Greek antiquity are the so-called Elgin marbles, taken from the Acropolis and other sites in Athens at the opening of the 19th century by the seventh Earl of Elgin. Due to a costly divorce, Lord Elgin was obliged to sell the Elgin marbles to the British government, and they are now housed in the British Museum. Despite continuing requests from the Greek government, Britain has consistently declined to repatriate the artefacts to their homeland.

Australia, of course, has had its own run-ins with the British Museum over repatriation, principally regarding the remains of Aboriginal men and women that had been taken to Britain during the era when eugenics was considered real science. We won the key battle in that fight when an act of British parliament was passed in 2005, although there is some way to go. It is high time the UK government did the right thing regarding the Elgin marbles—and that would be something to hold a Glendi about!

See this speech in context