PONTIAN GREEK COMMUNITY

Ms CICCARELLO (Norwood) (14:49): Will the Minister for Multicultural Affairs—

Mr Williams interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for MacKillop will come to order!

Ms CICCARELLO: —inform the house about an invitation he received to speak at an assembly of the Pontian Greek community in Greece?

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON (Croydon—Attorney-General, Minister for Justice, Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Minister for Veterans' Affairs) (14:50): In December last year, as many members in the house recall, I was invited to speak at the 50^th anniversary celebrations of the Pontian Brotherhood of South Australia at the Migration Museum. The Leader of the Opposition will recall that I was condemned for that by Senator Alan Ferguson, Liberal, South Australia. Indeed, I note that the Leader of the Opposition in debate the other day in the house was trying to portray Senator Ferguson as an Independent. In fact, he is a Liberal.

At the function I helped to unveil a plaque that commemorated the genocide of Pontian Greeks carried out by Turks between roughly 1914 and 1923. The speech that I made at the function explained that the Turkish forces—first the Ottomans and then Kemal Mustafa's forces—were responsible for the Pontian, Armenian and Assyrian genocides.

My speech attracted the attention of many parties, both locally and internationally. Indeed, I was interviewed in this chamber last night for a telecast on the equivalent of the ABC in the Hellenic Republic.

I have been overwhelmed by the response by members of these communities. My speech attracted the attention of the Pan-Pontian Federation of Greece, so much so that, in January this year, I received an invitation from the federation to speak at an annual assembly in Thessaloniki, which commemorates the Pontian Greeks who were killed between 1914 and 1923.

I was honoured to receive the invitation from the Pan-Pontian Federation of Greece. I am delighted to accept the invitation and will be leaving tomorrow. The assembly will take place in Agias Sofias Square in Thessaloniki on 19 May. It aims to commemorate the 353,000 victims of the genocide committed by the Young Turks and the Kemalist regime during that period. The peaceful gathering of up to 20,000 people also aims to ask for international recognition and condemnation of the genocide. The Pan-Pontian Federation of Greece will fund the trip to Greece, and I will leave Australia tomorrow.

It is fitting that I travel to Thessaloniki considering that only a few weeks ago I moved a motion in this place about the genocide of Pontian Greeks during the Ottoman Empire—not only Pontian Greeks but also other Greeks of Anatolia. The motion was passed without dissent, so I notice the member for Finniss did not have the courage of his convictions to come in here and oppose the motion.

Over the past six months I have spoken to many people about this matter, and it is quite astonishing how many Greek-Australians there are who have been affected by the genocide. Many of us have known people here in Australia who experienced Turkish removal of the Greeks of Pontus and other Greeks of Asia Minor, especially from the Aegean coast near Smyrna. We have their testimony, we have the admissions of officials of the Ottoman Empire and we have the shocking accounts of diplomats and consuls serving in Turkey at that time, including the diplomatic and consular officials of Turkey's wartime allies. I am privileged to be able to represent these Greek-Australians at the rally, and I thank the Premier for giving me his permission to travel to the Hellenic Republic.