The Vice President of the Australian Parliament, Steve Georganas of Greek descent, reiterated that Australia is ready to sign an intergovernmental agreement with Greece on the tourist visas about the working permit, but “Athens is delaying the procedures.”
“Both the Greek Foreign Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos and Deputy Foreign Minister Konstantinos Tsiaras assured me that there is no problem with the agreement proposed to them,” Georganas stated on the SBS Greek state radio program and added:
“The whole preparation has been made. There is an agreement, but it has not been signed yet for reasons that we do not understand. It is known, though, that Greece has more important issues to deal with at the moment. ”
The Australian Immigration Minister, Brendan O’Connor. will ask the Australian Embassy in Athens to contact the Foreign Ministry in order to accelerate the agreement procedures.
The Australian government is being pressed by the Diaspora Greeks on this issue as well. Due to the crisis and unemployment in Greece, there is much interest in migration to Australia.
However, the immigration policy is very stringent. With this agreement young people from 18-30 could visit Australia for a year and work simultaneously. The same will apply to Australians who want to go to Greece.
Meanwhile, Georganas denied the allegations that the action of the Greek Ministerial Advisory Committee, established by the Australian Government to give advice, has languished.
The Commission’s aim was to establish a channel of communication between the Diaspora and the centers of government decision making. Co-Chairs of the Greek Committee are Maria Vamvakinos and Steve Georganas.
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