Thursday, 1 August 2024

Stefan Romaniw

Steve DIMOPOULOS (Oakleigh – Minister for Environment, Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events, Minister for Outdoor Recreation) (10:52): I rise to pay tribute to a life well lived and to someone we are going to miss terribly, and that is Stefan Romaniw. I know that the Leader of the Opposition also spoke about him, as have others in the past. He was described as a titan of the Ukrainian diaspora and as a giant of a man with a giant heart, and having known Stefan for years, I feel that those descriptions are absolutely apt. I joined the Victorian Multicultural Commission as a staff member under the chair George Lekakis. Stefan was the immediate past chair, and he had warmth, energy, drive and commitment. He did not care where you sat, what your gender was – anything. He cared if you were joining him in the journey of pursuing change and reform. He was an absolutely extraordinary Victorian. He was first vice-president of the Ukrainian World Congress, then co-chair of the Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations. He was a chairman of the Ukrainian Youth Association and held many other roles well beyond the Ukrainian community. As others have said, he was executive director of Community Languages Australia, so he looked after all ethnic languages. He represented the multicultural community through the Victorian Multicultural Commission as chair. One thing that I really was taken by was when he said in an interview:

I’ve been blessed with a community that has given me the skills to be able to move forward in life.

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somebody gave me this little saying the other day “When you drink a glass of water, don’t forget who dug the well.”