It is very good to have this opportunity to participate in the “Hellenism in the 21st Century” conference, because the issue the conference addresses is of considerable significance, the speakers are distinguished and the papers erudite, and because I do value the chance to review the connection between Greece and Australia from a reasonably detached perspective.

Detachment may be an over-rated virtue, but as someone who was brought to Australia by my parents in the major post-war wave of migration, and whose early experiences were conditioned by being part of the momentum and vibrancy of that wave. 

It is instructive, to be able to stand back and to appreciate how distant the relationship between Greece and Australia has been for much of our history, and how much it has been influenced by sheer accident, and by the connections between people.

In the beginning, Greeks did not even receive assisted passage to Australia on the first fleet.  As usual, others got precedence.  It was not until 1829 with the transportation to New South Wales of seven Greeks for piracy that the Greeks became part of the tapestry of Australia’s convict history. 

In turn, from the Greek perspective in the early years of Australia’s European settlement, a paucity of knowledge was matched by a lack of interest.  As G.M. Gilchrist has reported, a Greek geography book of the 1830’s recorded “very little is known of the country [Australia] and scarcely anything [is] worthy of mention.”

Things didn’t significantly pick up for over a hundred years.  By the turn of the century, there were only around one thousand persons of Greek birth in Australia. 

Though the numbers of immigrants and contacts expanded somewhat up to the Second World War, the first major turning point in the relationship between the two nations was the Greek fight against the axis powers.  The Greek repulsion of the Italian invasion in October 1940 excited universal admiration amongst what was left of the democracies, including Australia and the non-combatant United States. 

For Australia, however, Greece acquired a much deeper significance with the direct participation of Australian forces in the fight against the Germans during the Greek campaign of April 1941 and in the subsequent battle for Crete.

To a considerable extent the involvement of Australian forces in Greece was accidental, flowing from the fact that they, together with the New Zealanders, were available for dispatch from the North Africa campaign to meet the British commitment to assist Greece. 

Controversy still surrounds whether Churchill manipulated Australian consent to the commitment of ANZAC troops, and it has been claimed that the commitment marked the end of “British military assessments or Churchillian assurances [being] accepted by the Australian Government in the face of contrary advice from the Australian Commander in Chief.” 
(D.F. Woodward, Australian Diplomacy With Regard to the 
Greek campaign February-March 1941, A.J.P.H. 1978, p.226).

What is uncontroversial is that the strategic reasons for the commitment were flawed.

The campaigns in Greece and Crete were short, sharp and doomed to failure, but they did create a bond between the two nations which has endured. 

Australians were impressed by, and still remember the courage of the Greeks alongside whom they fought during the campaigns, and who, after the fighting was over, risked ruthless reprisals to shelter and care for hundreds of Australian soldiers and assist their escape.  Australian soldiers’ accounts of these campaigns, the help they received, and the long term bonds they created, have, even half a century later, the capacity to move the reader, and for an account that gives some sense of this, I recommend Charles Robinson’s “Memory of Crete”.

These bonds have not just tied the men and women who experienced them directly.  They have involved the two nations and they have been consistently reiterated and reinforced by the utterances of politicians on every appropriate symbolic occasion.

Politicians’ rhetoric is discounted by some, but public rituals and politicians’ statements are a fundamental part of how connections between nations are maintained, and I believe it is indisputable that the shared experience of battle and its aftermath in Greece and Crete marks an important and enduring change in the relationship between Greece and Australia. 

Even more important than the bonds forged by war however, were the ties that have flowed from the post-war surge in migration from Greece to Australia.

In 1947, the number of Greek-born persons in Australia numbered 12,500. 

Over the next quarter of a century, the nation building commitment of successive post-war Australian governments and conditions in Europe resulted in almost a quarter of a million Greeks, equivalent to about two and a half percent of the current Greek population, migrating to Australia.

Undoubtedly the negotiation of the 1952 Agreement between the Australian and Greek Governments 
on Assisted Passage for Greek migrants gave impetus to this migration.  In deference to my late father however, who was proud of the fact that he paid full fare for himself and his family to come to Australia, I should note that in the order of two-thirds of the Greek immigrants made their way to Australia unaided.

 To return to the theme, migration flows no matter how substantial do not axiomatically create warm relationships between nations.  Indeed, in some cases they breed friction and discontent.  The nature of the impact of migration flows depend on migrants’ treatment in their new country, whether they identify and contribute to it and whether they retain some affection for their country of origin and wish to retain valued aspects of their heritage.

In the case of Greek migrants to Australia, and I would say that their experience has been the norm, despite the wrenches and difficulties inherent in the migrant experience, all the conditions for a warm relationship between Greece and Australia were overwhelmingly provided by a society that was pluralistic, open, tolerant and committed to growth, and a migrant population that wanted to contribute and achieve.

Like migrants to Australia of Irish, Scottish, Chinese, Italian and English origin, to name just a few of the backgrounds from which the people of Australia have come, the Greeks who have emigrated to Australia maintained an affection for their country of origin and were determined to maintain those aspects of their heritage, culture and orthodox religion that they valued, and they worked hard at it.

One thing needs to be stressed about Australia’s multiculturalism or cultural diversity or whatever, it was not created by some politician or imposed by some elite;  it was not the artefact of some so-called ethnic industry.

In the first instance, multiculturalism was created by the efforts of our grandparents and parents.  While striving to participate even more fully in Australian society and committing to Australia and our legal and democratic values and institutions, they established the churches, the schools, the neighbourhood clubs, the scout groups, the newspapers, the cultural and voluntary associations that would help preserve the components of their distinct heritage that they valued.

It was only years after they established these networks and institutions that governments addressed Australia’s multicultural reality. 

It did come to be realised that insisting that immigrants should discard the language and culture they valued had not just failed, but was antithetical to the openness and pluralism that are defining characteristics of Australian society, and would deny Australia the benefits brought by other cultures, and that policies needed to be put in place to respond intelligently and positively to the ethnic and cultural diversity that characterises our society. 

When I was younger, I thought that this recognition was a very long time coming.  Now I am older, I am genuinely in awe of the rapidity with which this took place and the Australian nation’s remarkable achievement in creating a genuinely multicultural society. 

This is a society which is committed to the right of all Australians to express and share their cultural heritages, to equality of treatment and opportunity, and removing discriminatory barriers, to implementing policies maximising the skills and assets inherent in Australia’s cultural diversity to the benefit of the individual and society, to making an unreserved commitment to Australia and Australia's basic interests, structures and principles and language.

 This has made a major contribution to the emergence from the mass immigration of the last half century, of an admirable, decent, harmonious society based on the appreciation of racial and cultural diversity and mutual respect, and which has enhanced the inherent fairness, openness and attractiveness of Australian society.

Australians of Greek descent have benefited enormously from the commitment to multicultural society, as have all other Australians, and the contribution of Australia’s Greek community has been widely recognised. 

The Prime Minister has frequently honoured, and I quote him “the vast, tangible contribution made to our nation by the half million or so Australian of Greek descent who have worked, achieved and enriched Australia.  This enrichment is obvious in every sphere in the economy, in the arts, in the professions and even in politics ... [it is] a tribute to the hard work and talent of successive generations of Greek Australians.”

The commitment to Australia by Australians born in Greece has been fundamental by any measure, but just take citizenship, which the community according to the 1988 Fitzgerald Report:  “perceives as a symbolically and psychologically significant act of commitment to Australia, of belonging to and identification with this national destiny.” 

I should say that I do not generally regard the Fitzgerald Report for acute insight but in this case I think it is right, and by the measure of citizenship the commitment to Australia and the identification with this country by Greek born members of the Australian population has been immense, with 95  of them choosing to become Australian citizens, the highest proportion of any migrant group.

I should say however that while Australians of Greek descent have taken up an established and respected place in Australian society, this should not be allowed to obscure the difficulties that newcomers to this society face. 

And we should recognise that there were voices in the past that said of Greeks, and many other migrant groups, they have their own culture and religion, form ghettoes and do not assimilate. 

These recognitions are particularly important now because of the emergence of the Member for Oxley who now says of Asian Australians “They have their own culture and religion, form ghettoes and do not assimilate.”

We should realise in a totally clear-eyed fashion that there is no end to the scapegoats that racists seek out.

The Member for Oxley gained her political reputation first by attacking aboriginals.  She soon moved to attacking Asian Australians. 

This is the way that racists extend their range of scapegoats.  They start off attacking one vulnerable group, then they attack another, and soon other groups become vulnerable.

 All Australians, not just Aboriginal Australians, not just Asian Australians, but all of us, and not the least Australians of Greek descent need to ask: Who will be next?

Which of us is the Member for Oxley talking about when she says - and I quote her words: “There are so many people who do not think of themselves as being Australian.”  Of whom does she speak when she asks: “Where will they stand in any future crisis;  beside us or behind us or will they themselves be the crisis?”  Who will she next accuse of “seeking to create more than one Australia”.

I believe that those people who are neither racist nor bigots but who are superficially attracted to Hansonism, and those who say: “I don’t agree with everything Pauline Hanson says ... but”, do need to reflect on what Hansonism really stands for.

Hansonism stands for racism and bigotry, for scapegoating vulnerable groups because of their race and ethnicity, for spreading fear and resentment, and for sowing mistrust and suspicion amongst Australians about one another.

Over the last fifty years, Australia has become a home and a nation for five million immigrants, 
from over 130 countries.  In a world of racial, ethnic and religious conflict and violence, we have shown the way and impressed other nations.

Hansonism rejects all this, and if we want to be a decent, tolerant and united Australia, Hansonism needs to be rejected.

I believe that the commitment to a multicultural Australia has not just benefited Australia internally but strengthened our ties with other nations.

It is to a substantial degree because of the links provided by the half million or so Australians of Greek descent who have enriched an Australian society that has afforded them respect and freedom and the experiences of those tens of thousands of Greeks who have lived and worked here and returned to Greece, that our two countries do have a very warm relationship. 

This is despite the fact that our prime economic, foreign policy and strategic foci differ - Greece’s primary focus is the European community and Australia’s is Asia, although the Coalition Government has indicated that it intends to raise the profile of our relations with Europe, and also despite the fact that the once massive wave of Greek migration has slowed to a mere droplet with only a few hundred people moving from Greece on a permanent basis, and the last decade being characterised by a net emigration of people from Australia to Greece.

Indeed, I believe that we are witnessing a strengthening in our political and cultural links with Greece, and one need only look at the increasing interaction and visits by Greek politicians to Australia and Australian politicians to Greece at both Federal and State levels as evidence of this.

Foreign Minister Mr Downer’s visit in June of this year was the latest from the top level of the Commonwealth Ministry, and during it he reaffirmed the Australian Government’s commitment 
to contribute in any constructive way to a negotiated settlement on Cyprus and the Greek Government expressed its appreciation for Australia’s approach to the Cyprus issue. 

We have had significant representation of Australian Parliamentarians at meetings in Greece over the last few years. 

Greek Parliamentarians are constant visitors to Australia, and the attendance here of Mr Stavros Lambrinidis, in Australia for the second time this year, and Grigoris Niotis underscore this.

It would also be remiss of me not to mention the Herculean efforts of the Premier of Victoria to strengthen the ties between Greece and Victoria - as exemplified by his frequent visits to Greece and his securing for Victoria Greek antiquities to display in the Hellenic Archaeological Museum donated by Victorian Government.

One area in which it would seem natural for the relationship to develop further is on the trade front.  The fact is that Australia and Greece are not the most active trading partners.  Australian exports to and imports from Greece are relatively insignificant to the trade profile of either country.  Indeed the trade flows between the two countries represent less than 1 percent of their total trade flows. 

Australian merchandise exports to Greece were some $33.5 million in 1995/96, around 0.04 percent of Australia’s total merchandise exports of $75.3 billion, while imports to Australia from Greece amounted to some $77.8 million, and represent about 0.1 percent of Australia’s total imports. 

Throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, there was very little growth in the trade relationship.  Indeed, over the period, Australian exports to Greece declined markedly, from a peak of almost $80 million in 1988, to a low of just $16 million in 1994, and although the last two years have seen some improvement, export volumes remain well below their 1980s peak. 

Notwithstanding this reasonably poor trend, trade results from the last couple of years, coupled with reasonably encouraging predictions for economic growth in both Greece and Australia over the next few years do give some grounds for optimism on the trade front. 

The question does need to be asked however, why trade between Australia and Greece is so small, and whether anything can or should be done to boost trade between the countries.  Both the Greek and Australian Governments are concerned to deepen our reciprocal trade. 

The Australian Government is actively promoting Australian business interests through support and encouragement for Australian companies at Greece's trade fairs such as the Trade Fair at Thessoloniki, the Posidonia Shipping Fair and the Naftiko Pleasure Boat Exhibition.

When the Foreign Minister was in Greece he and the Greek Government agreed that we should 
as a matter of priority encourage our respective our respective private sectors to establish an Australian/Greece business council to breathe more life into the commercial relations between Australia and Greece, and work on fleshing out this proposal is underway. 

There are many complementarities between our two economies and we should seize opportunities to take the commercial relationship forward.  Some examples of the opportunities to develop stronger commercial links are worth noting.

In infrastructure development, Australia has world's best capacities.  Developers in Greece are starting to rely on Australian expertise in fields such as civil engineering and land mapping equipment.

Australia's shipbuilding industry, and our high speed catamaran ferries in particular, are generating substantial interest in Greece.  Cosmetics and pharmaceuticals have similar potential.  As does the area of primary trade.  And in 1997 Australian firms won lucrative projects in Greece in land mapping and in totalisator betting systems.

But what is involved is more than just objective economic complementarities and the sheer presence in Australia of people of Greek origin. 

That commitment of Greek Australians to maintain their heritage and language and the impact of the multicultural policies pursued by successive governments provide the resources and a substantial reservoir of opportunity for enhancing the economic relationship between Australia and Greece.

There is in Australia’s Greek community the cultural knowledge about Greece, the linguistic resources and the professional and entrepreneurial skills which create the potential to enhance the economic relationship between Greece and Australia.

The reality of the potential is only brought home when one looks at the reams of material bemoaning, rightly or wrongly, the inadequacy of Australia’s linguistic and cultural resources in maximising trade with Asia, the lack of cultural sensitivity, an unawareness of nuance, unresponsiveness to mores and cues, the inability to identify and participate in networks, an ignorance of Asian politics and history, and simply the inability to speak Asian languages.  Just look at language which is universally highlighted as a key to Asian trade.

The 1991 Census shows that Greek was spoken at home by almost 300,000 people. 

It is also worth noting that we are not talking about a second generation Greek community depending on language transmission exclusively through the family. 

The Victorian data alone shows that over the past ten years almost 9,000 children, 15 percent of those taking a language other than English at HSC/VCE level, took Modern Greek.  This of course leaves aside Modern Greek courses at universities and the teaching of Greek in community schools.

But it is not just the possession of these intrinsic skills that is important.  Many of the resources which Australians of Greek origin posses, while they have their origin in the wave of post-war migration, have been qualitatively transformed.

Through a combination of sheer hard work and commitment on the part of Australians of Greek descent, the part of their parents and the tremendous achievement of Australian society and Australian institutions in adapting to the reality of cultural diversity, we are looking at a second generation that has taken a quantum leap in developing their education and skills.  The contrast between the first and second generation is stark. 

Most of the 137,000 people born in Greece and living in Australia at the time of the 1991 Census, had been in Australia for more than ten years.  The overwhelming majority (around 80 percent) had no formal post-secondary qualifications, and less than 2.5 percent had completed a university degree.  More than half worked as tradespeople, machinery operators, or manual labourers, and only about 6 percent as professionals or para-professionals. 

The comparison with the fortunes of their children is quite striking, and extremely encouraging. 

Of the 32,000 “second-generation” Greek Australians aged between 25 and 34 at the time of the 1991 Census, less than a quarter were working as tradespeople, machinery operators or manual labourers, and more than 25 percent were either professionals or para-professionals. 

In terms of education, about 20 percent were degree qualified, and more than half had attained some formal post-secondary qualifications.

Moreover, at the time the Census was taken, there were around 92,000 second generation Greek Australians aged under 25 still in the pipeline to benefit from the tremendous educational facilities which Australia offers, and to take advantage of the opportunities for socio-economic advancement made possible by a system which is open, and which has recognised and responded to the needs of a culturally diverse population.

This reality, together with the possession of cultural skills and knowledge of history and politics 
represents a real opportunity for Australians of Greek descent to use their unique combination of skills and talents to enhance the economic relationship between Australia and Greece. 

Ultimately, however, this depends on individuals and business grasping the opportunity to build new links of trade, of investment and cooperation which will contribute to Greece’s development while enhancing Australia’s economic strength.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I want to conclude by saying that the relationship between Greece and Australia is warm and strong, and it can be strengthened further.  Australia’s Greek community can make a significant contribution to this in the 21st Century because of its achievements and its attributes.