Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's a great honour to be speaking on this report on the delegation that visited Greece and Turkey back in September and October last year. For someone like myself, who has a Greek background and also represents a seat with a very large Greek-Australian population, it was an absolute honour to be there, to have discussions with ministers and officials and to see firsthand some of the challenges under the economic crisis that Greece is facing.

Could I first of all say a big thankyou to the people who looked after us while we were there: Ann Palmer, from our secretariat in the Senate, who ensured that we were at the correct place at the right time; and the wonderful staff at the Athens embassy, including Sophia McIntyre, Mr Andrea Biggi and of course—someone who is a stalwart at the embassy—Leonie Kowalenko, who has set up many meetings for me over the years with ministers, deputy prime ministers, speakers et cetera. I pay tribute to her, because she's a wonderful Foreign Affairs staffer who does amazing things in Athens.

The delegation, as we heard from the member for McEwen, looked at border management and border protection. We met with Frontex in Athens, who told us about the way they're dealing with the massive influx of refugees, not just from Syria but from all over the world. When they tell you that there are over 500,000 refugees living in Athens alone you can see the enormity of the problem they have and the assistance they require from Europe and other parts of the world to help with the issue. We spoke about the economy of Greece and how there's approximately 23 per cent unemployment—the official figure is 23, but it's more likely to be around 40 per cent.

We visited Crete, and it was a very special moment to visit the place where the Battle of Crete took place. Many Australians participated in the battles there during World War II. As the member for McEwen said, we visited the memorial at Stavromenos, and they raised with us the upkeep of that particular memorial. We've written to the Minister for Veterans' Affairs to ensure that we can get some sort of support to keep this very special place clean and tidy and to ensure that it is a special place for Australians when they visit Greece.

We also had meetings with the deputy foreign affairs minister, Mr Terence Quick. Mr Speaker, you would remember that we welcomed him here, in this place, in the Greek language, together with the member for Chisholm. It was great to see Mr Terence Quick again and have discussions with him. One of the things we spoke about with Mr Terence Quick was the finalising of the working holiday visa with Australia. Only the other day he telephoned me to tell me there was one more tiny thing to be done, one thing to be signed, for that to become reality. We discussed Greek-Australia relationships, with the massive Greek Australian community that we have here, the wonderful experiences people have and the ties between our two nations.

Mr Speaker, it was a very informative visit where we saw all the aspects of the people-to-people ties, the economic challenges that Greece is going through and, of course, our historical ties through World War I and World War II. We also visited Gallipoli and, as the member for McEwen said, it was very moving to be on that peninsula and still to find things on the ground that were left by our troops back in World War I. We laid wreaths at different memorials. We visited Hagia Sophia, one of the major Christian churches in the world and one of the first, built by Constantine the Great. It was very moving for me. Unfortunately, I had to leave—I had a family issue that popped up in the middle of the delegation's trip—and didn't make it to Ankara, but it was a good delegation. We ensured that we made the ties between those two nations and Australia stronger through the discussions we had and ensured that there is continuing thought given to trade and to the people-to-people contact we have with both of those nations. Both of them are very good allies of Australia through our ties with NATO in Europe and through the historical ties that exist in Greece because of World War I, World War II and the history of the mass migration of people to Australia. I'm looking forward to seeing some of these things come to fruition, especially the working holiday visa and the upkeep of the memorials we spoke about, because they are significant for Australia and for Greece. Many, many people have an interest in this area.

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