Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

‘Certainly,’ says Senator Minchin. I will put that proposal to the government. The last time His Holiness was in this building there was a refusal from the Presiding Officers to hold a reception. That was bilateral. It seems that, whichever major party gets into office, they immediately go to water because there is fear of what the communist authorities in Beijing will say. The Dalai Lama is a political leader of the exiled Tibetan people and, as far as they are concerned, of the seven million people in Tibet. Let us not beat around the bush here. The fact is there is fear of Beijing, alive and well. I do not accept it and the Greens do not accept it. Convention is something that grows; it is not something that blocks. It would be appropriate for the proposal to be adopted by this chamber and the Greens feel very strongly about it. (Time expired)