Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I would like to pay tribute to the passing of a great journalist, a community leader and a very dear friend of mine, Kon Nikolopoulos, who passed away on 16 January after a brave fight with a long illness. It is difficult to express the depth of the loss a community feels when it loses one of its most influential, respected and significant voices. The passing of Kon Nikolopoulos leaves a void in the Australian Greek community that will be near impossible to fill, because he was definitely one of a kind.

Kon migrated from Patra, Greece to Australia in July 1971, settling and raising his young family, like so many other migrants who came to make Australia home. Kon led a full and productive life. He was a powerful activist for social justice causes in the broader Australian community, especially on issues pertaining to multiculturalism, migration and settlement, access and equity, and ethnic media. A strong voice and advocate for education and the teaching of languages other than English, he was passionate for the promotion of Greek language and culture. He was a strong voice for the return of the Parthenon Marbles, he advocated for Justice for Cyprus, and for years he organised the celebration of the Greek national day on 25 March, which involved a wreath-laying ceremony and a parade of thousands of schoolchildren and community participants at Melbourne's Shrine of Remembrance.

Kon, however, was first and foremost a journalist—and an old-school one at that. With his astute political acumen and unyielding code of ethics, his primary concern was to get to the truth and communicate it. He worked at SBS and the Hellenic Herald, and for the last 20 years, until his passing, he was deputy editor-in-chief at Australia's largest circulating Greek newspaper, Neos Kosmos. He was highly regarded for his honest, pragmatic and audacious no-nonsense approach. To pigeonhole him as just another ethnic journalist would be to have never understood the magnitude of his influence and professionalism. I want to thank Kon for the support he gave to me. I could always rely on his sharp mind, objectivity and thorough investigations. His criticisms were always constructive and, if ever harsh, they were certainly fair.

He played a leading role in the petition to have the Modern Greek language included in Australia's national languages curriculum. The petition was tabled in the House of Representatives in June 2010, signed by a record 24,000 people. ACARA's decision to include Modern Greek in the national languages curriculum was a result of a tremendous collective effort spearheaded by Kon Nikolopoulos as the petition's principal signatory.

Kon was a loving husband to his life's partner, Effie, and father to Bill and Nick. His son Nick remembers his enduring love for family and his good sense of fairness and social justice. Nick remembers how dedicated he was to everything that he did, especially the time he had for those around him. Nick fondly recollects:

Dad was dearly loved and will be greatly missed. As high profile as he was, he was very low key.

He never trumpeted his achievements. My dad felt no need for that. It wasn't about knowing the right people and shaking the right hands it was about doing the right thing.

Nick also remembers growing up with a father who spent many long hours working in both paid and voluntary capacities. He says:

Journalism is hard work. Dad spent hours doing what he did. [His] favorite things however were going to the park or doing the things we did when he was home. Knowing he was home was the best part of our day. He was very proud of my late brother Bill and I. He loved hanging the term "my boy" at the end of people's names … so it was always "Billy my boy, Nick my boy".

Kon Nikolopoulos was a formidable journalist with an impressive track record. He knew the Australian political landscape intimately. He interviewed many a Prime Minister and Premier and, indeed, many political leaders both here and abroad. He was widely known and respected in Canberra, and I know for a fact that many leaders of the opposition and prime ministers took a keen interest in what Kon wrote in his weekly political column.

Above all he was highly respected by the Greek community in Australia and Greece. This respect was most evident even as recently as last week, when the Leader of the Opposition paid tribute to him at the annual Lonsdale Street Antipodes Festival. Thousands of people applauded in appreciation at the mention of Kon Nicolopoulos' name. This showed the high level of recognition and affection that Kon Nicolopoulos had. He was a household name. The wider community has lost a significant presence.

My condolences to his family, his colleagues at Neos Kosmos, his friends and the neighbourhoods of Oakleigh where he lived.