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

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. I thank the minister for that very positive response. I ask if the minister would also pass on the comments from the Dalai Lama at the Press Club an hour or so ago that Tibet is seeking autonomy, not independence, and the advantages of the Chinese economic advance while protecting the globally-recognised cultural advantages of the Tibetan people. There appears to be no threat whatsoever to the Chinese regime from the Tibetan proposals. The Prime Minister might use his good offices, as I said earlier, to make that reassurance clear to the Chinese authorities on the road to, hopefully, a pre-Olympic rapprochement.