Ms THEOPHANOUS (Northcote): This year, 25 March marks the 200th anniversary of Greece’s independence, an anniversary that will be celebrated right across the world. Normally, thousands of adults and children from all generations would march to the Shrine of Remembrance in solidarity with those who fought for freedom, and Lonsdale Street would be alive with Greek music and dancing as we celebrated together. This year, with borders closed but our hearts wide open, the local Greek community in my electorate of Northcote are choosing to celebrate a little closer to home. Multicultural groups across the electorate are hosting lunches, wreath-laying ceremonies, church services and dinner dances in celebration of the bicentennial. I look forward to attending many of them.
I will also join a more intimate ceremony at the Shrine of Remembrance hosted by the Greek national day council and the Greek Consul General of Melbourne—a fitting location given that Greece fought alongside Australia to defend freedom and democracy in two world wars. And as we reflect and pay tribute to those who fought for freedom after hundreds of years of Ottoman rule, we also reflect on the importance and fragility of democracy itself. We are here in this chamber, in this hall of great debate, with the ability to deliberate on ideas and policy in freedom and safety because there were those before us who fought for democracy and independence. And with that I say, ‘Ζήτω η Ελλάδα! Ζήτω η Αυστραλία! Kαι ζήτω η δημοκρατία’!
