I move:

That the Senate—

(a)

notes, with alarm, the 5 year prison sentence delivered by Chinese authorities to journalist Ching Cheong, the Hong Kong-based correspondent for Singapore’s Strait Times newspaper;

(b)

condemns the crackdown on dissent and free journalism in China ahead of the Beijing Olympics in 2008; and

(c)

calls on the Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr Downer) to raise the matter with Chinese authorities immediately.

Question put.