Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Every Australian deserves to feel safe in our country, and that includes our newest Australians. At the weekend in the Blue Mountains, we welcomed nearly 70 new Australian citizens, including Tibetans. With my Tibetan friends in the gallery, I want to highlight that, unfortunately, foreign interference is real for some communities. For Tibetans, it can mean that calls to family members in Tibet may be monitored or their community activities here may be under surveillance by foreign actors, which is intimidating and can lead to self-censorship, especially when speaking out about their or their family's experiences of arrest and torture. There's no place for transnational repression here in Australia. I will continue to work with the Tibetan community, including to ensure they feel confident reporting any attempts to intimidate them.

As we mark the 90th birthday this year of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, I want to reiterate the government's view that no government should interfere in the selection of religious leaders, and successions should be allowed to occur in accordance with religious norms and practices. That is the case for the next Dalai Lama, although we know that this one is planning a very long life.

The Albanese government has expressed deep concern over the erosion of human rights and freedoms in Tibet. It has urged the Chinese government to uphold the fundamental human rights of Tibetan people and to enter into genuine dialogue with the Dalai Lama to achieve long-term peace and freedom for Tibet.

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