Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Rice for her question, and I also acknowledge that she is one of the co-chairs of the Australian All Party Parliamentary Friends of Tibet, as are my colleague Ms Templeman and, I think, Senator Dean Smith. Thank you for your work in that context. As I said to representatives of the Tibetan community with whom I met today—and I've met with a number of them previously—it's a very important part of engagement to have parliamentary groups whose members are, obviously, able as parliamentarians to engage with members of the community and to make statements. I understand that statements were made, although I wasn't, obviously, present at your media conference.

It is the case that we are concerned about the erosion of rights and freedoms in Tibet, and we, in our engagement with our counterparts at a number of levels, continue to raise concerns with the representatives of the Chinese government about the erosion of rights and freedoms in Tibet. We are gravely concerned by disturbing reports of the separation of Tibetan children from their families, the detention of Tibetans for peaceful expression of political views and the suppression of Tibetan religious expression, as well as what are described as excessive security measures.

We have raised our concerns with counterparts, and I would say that this is the first time an Australian government has done this. Australia raised our concerns in our national statement at the Human Rights Council in March, and I again say that that is the first time an Australian government has done that. In part, I would credit not just the parliamentary friends but also members of the community for their advocacy.