The ‘Italians Down Under’ conference was hosted by the Italian Ambassador H.E Pier Francesco Zazo last week in Canberra across two-days from the 23-24 of September. It coincided with the annual meeting of the Italian Consuls, CGIE and Com.It.Es representatives from across Australia which took place before the conference on the morning of Friday the 23rd of September.
Various delegates from across the Italian-Australian community around Australia attended to discuss various issues around three main themes which included; Business and Trade, Language and Culture, and the need to strengthen Italian representation to state and federal government authorities for the betterment of all established Italo-Australian organisations/associations across Australia within their respective areas of expertise.
Expert guest speakers were invited to speak to the attendees on the Friday across the three themes previously mentioned which included;
- Mr George Vellis of the Australian Hellenic Council – Representation within the Greek Australian Community
- Prof Antonia Rubino – Teaching of Italian in Australia: Opportunities and Threats
- Prof Max Trani – Italy and Australia Trade Relations and Potential for Reciprocal Investment Flows.
- Josh Itzkovic, Director Corporate Finance Westfield Corporation – Investments of the Westfield Group in Italy: Opportunities and Challenges
- Claudio Cavallini, General Manager for the Ferrero Agricultural Business (Agri-Australis) – Investments of the Ferrero Group in Australia: advantages of Australia as a destination for Italian investments
- Ron Grasso, CNH Industrial (Case New Holland) – Investments of the CNH Industrial in Australia: advantages of Australia as a destination for Italian investments
- Hon Tony Piccolo – Chair of the Working Group for the creation of Italo Australian Assembly – Proposal for a National Assembly of Italian Australia
On the Saturday there were three working groups assigned to the three themes of the conference with the Com.It.Es members well represented across all those areas;
- Opportunities for further strengthening of Italy-Australia bilateral trade and investment – Attended by Mark Quaglia
- Strategies to strengthen the presence of the Italian language and culture in Australia – Attended by Prof Angela Scarino (Member of National Language Working Party)
- Strategies to strengthen representation of the Italian-Australian community’s and enhance its participation in Australian Society – Proposal of National Body by Hon Tony Piccolo (Chair) and Christian Verdicchio (Secretary) members of the National Working Party for Creating a National Body.
The conference concluded on the Saturday afternoon with a clear acceptance by all the attendees to approve the adoption of a National Body for Italian Australian representation which was proposed by the working party consisting of three Com.It.Es SA members which was put together at the last conference in 2014. The Hon Tony Piccolo (Chair), Christian Verdicchio (Secretary) and Prof Angela Scarino, were members of this national working group which have been successful in proposing the initiation of an important new body to advocate a single voice to government bodies in Australia to further strengthen the voice of the Italian-Australian community here in Australia. The finalisation of this proposal and final stages of the community feedback will take place over the coming weeks before it is initiated by the Ambassador to appoint an interim committee.
Com.It.Es wishes to thank and congratulate and thank the Ambassador H.E Pier Francesco Zazo and his wife for their amazing hospitality during the two days in hosting such a great forum for current issues within the Italian-Australian community.
Dr Phillip Donato (SAIA), Tina Taddeo (CoAsIt), Mark Quaglia, H.E Pier Francesco Zazo, Hon Tony Piccolo, Christian Verdicchio, Gilda Campbell (CoAsIt), Carlo Tropiano (CoAsIt)
Annual Meeting of Consuls, CGIE and Com.It.Es representatives from across Australia
The Ambassador addressing the meeting attendees
Mark Quaglia, Dr Enza Tudini (UniSA), Prof Luciana d’Arcangeli (Dante Alighieri), Prof Angela Scarino and Christian Verdicchio