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

by leave—That is extraordinary. That is the government endorsing this motion but, in a spineless display of forelock tugging to Beijing, saying that it will not vote for it. The ethic and the moral compulsion are very clear in the motion: that the Tibetan people have a right to be educated in their own language. The government accepts that but is going to vote against it. Have you ever, Mr Deputy President, seen a greater display of cowardice on principle than the one the government is currently flagging before this chamber?

It is well known that the death of language is the death of culture. There has been not just an edict from authorities in Qinghai overruling the Tibetan people but a response which has seen riots, extensive repression of the Tibetan people, including schoolchildren, a great deal of cruelty and the loss of their rights. You would think that the Australian parliament, which believes in a fair go and free speech, and an elected government Australians thought would stand up for those principles, would be endorsing a motion like this because it is a simple message to Beijing to treat the people of Tibet with a little bit more not just common sense but morality. But we are not seeing that from this government. I find that disgusting and I ask the government to change its thinking on this. We have not heard from the opposition yet, but I hope the opposition and the crossbench will join the Greens in supporting this motion so that the message can go to Beijing. (Time expired)

Question put:

That the motion (Senator Bob Brown’s) be agreed to.