Maria Dimopoulos, AM: "we need to establish a truth- telling process in this country”

Greek- Australian human rights advocate and tireless campaigner for migrant and refugee women, Maria Dimopoulos, was named Member of the Order of Australia for "significant service to women, to cultural diversity, and to the prevention of domestic violence". It is one of the highest honours an Australian can receive.

Maria Dimopoulos AM with her mother Marianthi Source: Supplied

In an interview to SBS Greek Maria Dimopoulos, founder of the Harmony Alliance: migrant and refugee women for change, said that she accepted the Member of the Order of Australia with mixed feelings.

Maria Dimopoulos was born in Florina and came to Melbourne at the tender age of 2 when her parents, Marianthi and Kostas, decided to make the long journey Down Under in the 1960s. She is the elder sister of Charlie and Helen and a very proud aunt to Ruby and Bella. Like most Greeks, family is Maria's 'true North' - a place to return to and seek inspiration and shelter. It was her experiences within the family environment that steered her towards the sphere of social justice. 

Recounting her beginnings as an activist for gender equity, cultural diversity and prevention of family violence, she says that early experiences and the willingness to learn from them influenced her determination to speak out and take action.

"Migrating to Australia at a young age, watching your parents work really hard in factories, watching your mother who spoke and acquired many languages and then was involved in the union at work only to be told that her English was broken rather than focus on the strengths and contributions that this amazing  woman made, I grew up watching her being treated almost sub-humanly" she said to SBS Greek and stressed that

those kinds of things even thinking about them now really drive my commitment to stamping out racism, to stamping out anything that seeks to erode human rights

Maria Dimopoulos has an impressive CV: she is the deputy chair of the Victorian Multicultural Commission, the Chair of the Harmony Alliance (an organisation she co-founded),  and sits on a number of boards including the Coronial Council of Victoria, the Judicial Council on Cultural Diversity and the Castan Centre for Human Rights.

Maria Dimopoulos receiving Migration Council's "Lifetime Achievement Award" from Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull Source: Supplied

n 2008, Maria was appointed by the Federal government to the National Council to Reduce Violence Against Women and their Children and later she was appointed to the National Judicial Council on Cultural Diversity and was actively involved in working with the courts to address access to justice for women and children.

The Australia Day Honours adds to her long list of honours and awards, including the Australian Migration Council's  Lifetime Achievement Award, her induction into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women,  Amnesty International's Human Rights Award for her work on the legal and human rights of women from CALD backgrounds.

Maria also has had research published in a range of professional publications and peer reviewed journals including the Feminist Law Journal,  Australian Domestic & Family Violence Clearinghouse, and the Australian Institute of Criminology.