The Australian Committee was established in 1981 but we are now launching a new campaign by inviting prominent Australians to join us in the restitution effort. We want the Parthenon Marbles returned to Greece before the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

Ours is a totally independent Australian Committee but we do liaise and work closely with other similar committees, particularly with that in Great Britain and more recently with those in the USA and Canada.

Today we are launching the campaign and I would like particularly to thank the following who have agreed to become honorary members:

Malcolm Frazer, former Australian Prime Minister; Gough Whitlam AC QC, former Australian Prime Minister; Bob Carr MP, Premier of New South Wales; Sir James Killen KCMG, former Federal Cabinet Minister; Lindsay Tanner, Labor Member of the Federal Parliament; Petro Georgiou, Liberal Member of the Federal Parliament; Jenny Bot, GM, Australia Council for the Arts and member of the Australian National Commission for UNESCO; Malcolm Long, chairman of the Australian Museum; Joe Skrzynski AM, chairman of the Sydney Opera House.

Australia has a legitimate and important role in this matter, not only because of our historical ties with Britain and because we have a large Greek-Australian population, but because this is not just a Hellenic issue -- it is a world heritage issue.

We believe that a strong and positive Australian campaign will help tip the scales towards a return of the Marbles to Greece.

The Australian Committee appeals to Britain that, as a leading nation in the international community, it should act in a right and proper manner on the issue of restitution.

The start of the New Year 2000 provides the British government with the opportunity to redress one of the great wrongs of history. We urge them to do this to allow the return of the Parthenon Marbles to their rightful place in Greece.

Emanuel John Comino OAM, chairman of the Australian Committee, speaking to the Sydney Hellenic Club on 5 January 2000 .

Victoria PM joins campaign

From the Athens News

THE PRIME minister of the Australian state of Victoria, Steve Bracks, has announced that his regional government will lodge an official appeal before the British parliament for the return to Greece of the Parthenon Marbles. "It's truly a tragedy that these treasures are still being kept in London," the Athens News Agency quoted Bracks as saying. "They should be returned to where they belong to be displayed in the Acropolis Museum now under construction."

Bracks went on to explain that a special committee appointed by Britain's house of commons would be sitting next month to look into demands from several countries for the return to them by Britain of artistic treasures. He added that the government of Victoria will include in its appeal for the Marbles' return an exposition of the reasons it took into consideration in asking for their return to Greece.

In making known his government's decision, Bracks said it had been an honour for him to accept an invitation to join the Australian Committee for the Return of the Parthenon Marbles to the country of their origin - a body on which many prominent Australian politicians already sit as members. Among Australians volunteering to be identified with the growing campaign for the archaeological treasures' return to Greece are former federal premiers Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser, the present premier of New South Wales, Bob Carr, the former premier of Victoria, Jeff Kennett, as well as dozens of members of parliament, senators, representatives of the arts and prominent intellectuals.

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