Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to briefly speak in support of Senator Patrick's motion to refer a matter to the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee. Australia's relationship with the CCP is a matter of significant national importance and ought be examined by a Senate committee. In order to fully understand how important it is to Australia and to understand our vulnerabilities in this context we do need to reflect on history and on the current activities of the CCP.

Firstly, I want to briefly reflect on the historic invasion and annexation of Tibet in 1950, the subsequent brutal occupation of that country and the subsequent destruction of Tibetan culture, the Tibetan way of life and the unique and beautiful environment on the Tibetan plateau. We also need to reflect, as my colleague Senator Waters just did, on the abduction of the Panchen Lama 25 years ago in flagrant contravention of human rights norms and to call strongly for the Panchen Lama and his family to be released from wherever they are secretly locked up and allow him to take his position in the Tibetan religious framework.

We also need to think about what's happening today to the Uighur people in China. It is estimated that one million to three million Uighur people have been forcibly imprisoned without trial, systemically indoctrinated, punished and harmed. Significant restrictions are placed on Uighur people who are not in those prisons. They are not free to go about their day-to-day lives in any way.

We also need to reflect on Hong Kong. As Senator Waters said, yesterday marked the one-year anniversary of a civil uprising in Hong Kong in protest against the Chinese government's attempts to undermine the freedoms and liberties that have existed for so many decades in that place, and against the Chinese government's ruthless and ongoing attempt to quash democracy and to subjugate Hong Kong's citizens. As the leader of the Greens, Adam Bandt, has said, we need to follow Bob Hawke's lead and open our arms to Hong Kongers in Australia and offer them safe haven, because for so many of them it is simply not safe to go back to Hong Kong and not safe for their families to remain in Hong Kong, where they are facing intimidation from the CCP. The United Kingdom has raised the possibility of accepting up to three million people from Hong Kong should the CCP continue its attempts to quash freedoms and democracy in Hong Kong. It's not good enough that Australia has not joined in that push, which also involves other Five Eyes countries.

I'm not going to mince words here: the CCP is a totalitarian regime that seeks to ruthlessly control every aspect of its citizens' lives. Ultimately, that government, the CCP, is a junta which came to power using arms and force and maintains its grip on power using arms and force. The activities of that government need to be properly examined, and Australia's relationship with that government needs to be properly examined by a Senate committee.

I'm not expecting the major parties in this place to support this motion. They've made that very clear in the past. I can't help but suspect that the Labor Party's refusal to support this motion is about providing cover to Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews who signed up Victoria to the Belt and Road Initiative and who is being excessively secretive about whatever arrangements he has made, in leading a Victorian Labor government, with the Chinese Communist Party.

In light of all of those matters, it's critical that Australia's relationship with the CCP is examined by a Senate committee. For those reasons and others, the Australian Greens will be supporting this proposal.