Dear Italians, dear friends of Italy,
I am writing to you with great and sincere emotion, when the four intense and wonderful years of my mandate as Consul of Italy for Queensland and the Northern Territory are coming to an end.
It has been a great privilege, a true honor for me to represent Italy and the Italians of this vast consular jurisdiction, to work and give voice and visibility to your stories as migrants, to the many activities you carry out daily, promoting our country here in Australia, with the spirit of initiative and the courage to always succeed that distinguishes us, the Italians.
In these four years, thanks to the work of the entire consular team, which I thank, we have managed to improve services, doubling the number of passports issued and introducing new ones, from the Electronic Identity Card (CIE) to the acquisition and reacquisition of citizenship. With the constant, active involvement of the resident Italian community, over the past four years, more than one hundred events have celebrated Italy in Queensland and the Northern Territory: from music to dance, language, culture, design, and cuisine, I have been committed, and we have been committed every single day, to bringing the best of Made in Italy and our millennia-old history to places geographically distant, yet still emotionally close to our Italy.
Thanks to the trust each of you has placed in me and in the Consulate, new ideas and projects that were difficult to implement and long in the making have become possible, such as the comic book “Mamma, gli it-Alieni!” or the evenings “Porte Aperte in Consolato”.
I would like to express my personal thanks to all of you through a quote from US President Theodore Roosevelt, which I deeply identify with and which I believe captures the essence of my experience in Brisbane: “No one cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.” Thank you all for having been so important to my personal and professional growth, and for all the lessons I feel you have taught me, and which I will carry with me. You have meant a great deal to me, I really care about you and I hope I have been able to convey this feeling by working to the best of my possibilities every day.
In recent weeks, I have received so many expressions of esteem and affection from you, that deeply touched, moved me. My hope for the future is that the good we have built together may continue to live on and grow in the actions and choices of those who will come after me. As I look forward to seeing you all again soon, I extend my warmest greetings and my heartfelt thanks.
Ad maiora semper!
The Italian Consul for Queensland and the Northern Territory
Luna Angelini Marinucci
