Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In the weeks surrounding the Prime Minister's visit to Beijing, we have often heard this regarding Australia-China relations: the government will cooperate with China where it can and disagree where it must. It's critical to note at the outset that there are many areas where Australia and China can and should cooperate to the ongoing benefit of both nations and our region. However, there are also areas where, guided by our own national values, we must disagree. One of those areas of disagreement is the Chinese government's policy on Tibet and the longstanding concerns regarding human rights violations and cultural suppression in that region.

Along with Susan Templeman MP and Senator Janet Rice, the other co-chairs of the Australian All-Party Parliamentary Group for Tibet, I will tomorrow welcome Kalon Norzin Dolma at Parliament House. Ms Norzin Dolma is a minister in the Tibetan government in exile, visiting Australia to discuss the United Nations 2024 universal periodic review of China and, in particular, how this process can help create accountability and change for China's human rights record in Tibet. I call on the Albanese government to honour its responsibility and contribute meaningfully to this report, providing considered recommendations aimed at maintaining appropriate pressure on this important issue. There are thousands of Tibetan Australians across our country and over 615,000 Buddhist believers from various ethnic backgrounds. All have a deeply rooted affinity for Tibet and a vested interest in its cultural and religious liberty. Because of this, our responsibility to speak out regarding human rights issues in the region is not only a moral one but also a representative one. Tibetan and Buddhist Australians rightly expect us to represent their concerns, just as with any other diaspora in our remarkably multicultural society.

The present Dalai Lama turned 88 this year, and in the Buddhist tradition it is the task of the Panchen Lama to identify his reincarnated person when he passes on. Since the disappearance of the 11th Panchen Lama in 1995, Beijing has sought to dominate this sacred process, undermining a centuries-old custom which, for the first time in the history of Buddhism, risks being influenced by government bureaucracy and interests rather than time honoured sacred tradition. This is just one aspect of the broader suppression of the freedom of Buddhists in Tibet, who have been regularly obstructed and whose ranks of monks and other clergy have been vetted by the government.

Moving beyond matters of faith, the United Nations human rights bodies have in the last 12 months outlined escalations in other human rights violations. Reports have outlined more than one million Tibetan children being separated from their families and communities. Just think about that: reports have outlined more than one million Tibetan children being separated from their families and communities. There has been erosion of the Tibetan language in regional schools, the ongoing arrest of peaceful dissidents, and a broader trend away from Tibetan identity. All of these developments are clouded by lack of access to Tibet for international human rights lawyers and investigators.

Again, I look forward to meeting with Kalon Dolma later this week to learn more about the recommendations she and her colleagues have for the Australian government's contribution to the universal periodic review. I encourage the government to heed the advice of Tibetan voices such as Kalon Dolma's to develop an effective, strong submission to the review, ensuring Australia does not stay on the sidelines of human rights issues generally and particularly when it comes to human rights violations in Tibet. If the government is serious about 'cooperating where we can and disagreeing where we must', it must ensure that healthy relations with Beijing do not obstruct our values and our responsibilities to the Tibetan and Buddhist communities of Australia.

I'd like to turn briefly to the important and wonderful and often very colourful community events that populated my program in Western Australia on the weekend. It was a two-day snapshot of our history, our multicultural success and our generous, giving spirit in the west.

Last Saturday I was grateful to attend the Mount Lawley Inglewood RSL's Remembrance Day ceremony. We gathered on the historic cenotaph in Mount Lawley, one of the most beautiful in Perth's suburbs. A highlight was being joined by a group of year 10 student counsellors from Mount Lawley Senior High School. Between them, they gave a reading of In Flanders Fields, raised the flags and assisted with the laying of wreaths in an outstanding display of citizenship. Many thanks to Max Friend from my team for representing me and laying a wreath at the Wanneroo RSL ceremony in Perth's northern suburbs.

As always, there was a very large gathering of locals at the cenotaph dedicated to members of that community who served and never returned. Special thanks of course go, as they always do, to vice-president Peter Epps, warden Peter Tuck, secretary Sue Tuck and Mayor Lynda Aitken. These events, with so many people of all ages present, were evidence both of the strengths of the communities around my home and electorate office and of the profound respect that still remains for those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom and values.

Later on the same Saturday the Midland Town Hall was transformed into one of the highlights of my year: the Kachin community's annual harvest thanksgiving festival. The hall was brilliantly decorated with fruit and vegetables and grains. I was glad to see it once again sponsored by the City of Swan, which awarded it an event grant for the third year in a row. We enjoyed traditional music. I engaged in traditional dancing and I enjoyed the food, with most of the community there in the colourful costumes that the Kachin are renowned for.

The Kachin are a small but proud cultural group hailing from the northernmost state in Burma. What was particularly special about the festival was that it included other Burmese ethnic leaders from my home state, with the aim of promoting awareness of the ongoing plight of those who continue to suffer at the hands of the military regime in Burma. In Burma and around the world, including in WA, there are around 8½ thousand Burmese, and they know they have my continued support and advocacy.

Wrapping up last weekend before the long flight back to Canberra from Perth, I joined almost a thousand Western Australians at a glamorous but very meaningful event: the 29th annual Ronald McDonald House charity ball in Western Australia. More than a thousand guests attended the event at the Crown ballroom in Perth, there to do all they could to raise funds for one of the most deserving causes imaginable. As many of my Western Australian colleagues will know, the organisation supports the state's families with sick children, providing essential family centred care, accommodation and services. For those from regional WA especially who are in the city for medical treatment, it is a precious resource in time as well as in need and care. Last year, more than $1½ million was raised, and we look forward to seeing very soon what was able to be achieved in 2023.

As I close, let me plug another important event, and that is of course this weekend's McHappy Day events that will be happening around our country. I encourage my parliamentary colleagues and everyone in the community to visit their local McDonald's to provide them with generous support so that they can also continue to support the wonderful work of Ronald McDonald houses around the country.

Again I pay tribute to each of the groups and the communities I've mentioned here and thank them for the generous support they always extend to me. Of course, as I always say, I'm available; no task is too big or too small.