Daniel Mulino (Fraser, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I reiterate the member for Fisher's contribution in saying that it is unusual to have a motion that is supported by both the major parties, and I will add that this is a motion that I think is supported right across the parliament. We have former Greens senator Janet Rice here. We have a member of the Independent part of the parliament here, and I know that there are many Independent members of the parliament who support this. So this is a motion that has support right across this parliament.

It's also quite unusual to have the gallery packed in the Federation Chamber. I want to acknowledge all of the people here, including Mr Karma Singey and all of the monks and all of the people from the community who have come here. It reflects how important this issue is that we have a packed public gallery here, and it makes today's discussion on this very important issue all the more meaningful. In acknowledging the people who are here today, I also acknowledge that a number of the people in the gallery visited me in a delegation today in my office. I found the young people in particular, who are here championing these issues, so eloquent, thoughtful and powerful, and I found myself to have been educated today on so many aspects of these important issues.

Finally, my own electorate has a very significant Tibetan community. I speak to the people in Fraser and Melbourne's broader west from the Tibetan community. I want to reiterate the comments of earlier speakers in that I've read with great concern reports of assimilationist policies by the Chinese government. The term 'assimilationist' is such a euphemism. It doesn't really tell what's going on. It doesn't reflect the human rights abuses and the oppression. It doesn't reflect the fact that the lives of individuals, families and communities are being torn apart. I think we really do need to speak to the heart of this issue, as other speakers have done. We're talking about human rights abuses. We're talking about the abuses of individuals, young people, families and communities. That's why it's important that this motion brings this matter to the fore in a cross-party way and that we all stand as one.

I want to highlight the boarding schools, which were again raised with me by the delegation that visited me today. These are people who have direct experience of family members having to attend the schools. Young people, people under the age of 10, are not allowed to speak their own language and are not allowed to celebrate, understand or learn their own culture. This is an insidious thing to do to young people, quite apart from the fact that young people are being separated from their families for extended periods of time, and all the psychological trauma that involves. That is something that this motion usefully calls out.

As the member for Macquarie pointed out, on 8 July UN rapporteurs wrote that there had been a widespread crackdown on Tibetans peacefully opposing the construction of the Kamtok hydroelectric power plant. That's an important event in and of itself. That kind of crackdown is a terrible thing, and I think it's important to note that, but it's a reflection of a wider series of crackdowns that are going on. It's a reflection of a wider suppression of the expression of people's views. It's a very important example, but it's one of many that the community is experiencing.

Finally I point out, as earlier speakers have done, that there is religious suppression going on. People are not allowed to practice their religion. The carrying of the Dalai Lama's image has been banned. There have been arrests and imprisonment of people who have merely carried or celebrated that image. As earlier speakers have pointed out, it is quite remarkable that the Chinese Communist Party regime is trying to intervene in the succession of the Dalai Lama. That is quite a remarkable intervention in a process that should be all about faith, religion and culture.

In summary, I thank the mover and the seconder of this motion. I'm very pleased to be able to speak tonight in favour of this. Thank you so much to the delegation, to the leaders who are here and to the young people who are here. I very much hope that this motion raises the profile of this very important issue.

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