Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Leave granted.

The Australian government does not support the motion. The Dalai Lama is always welcome to visit Australia in his capacity as a religious leader and Nobel Prize laureate, as he has done on several previous occasions. The precedent of this chamber on this issue is that only members of legislature and members of government have been granted seats in the distinguished visitors gallery. It would therefore, on that advice, be inappropriate for the Dalai Lama to be seated to in the distinguished visitors gallery. Successive Australian governments have consistently adhered to the one-China policy. We recognise China’s sovereignty over Tibet and China’s territorial integrity. The Australian government does not recognise the Tibetan government in exile as a government. Granting the Dalai Lama a seat in the distinguished visitors gallery could easily be misconstrued as some kind of political recognition. On that basis, as I have indicated, we do not support the motion.