Barbara Pocock (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on human rights issues facing Tibetans. Each year, the Tibetan community visits Parliament House on Tibet Lobby Day. On Monday, I had the joy of hearing Tibetan children singing prayers in their own language, but if they did this in Tibet or China they would be punished. There is no freedom of movement, expression, religion or association in Tibet. Not only that—Tibetans who speak up, including in Australia, face transnational repression, surveillance and intimidation.

I had the privilege of hearing directly from members of the Tibetan Australian community about the issues facing them. They told me about their horrible experience in Chinese colonial boarding schools. The Chinese government has ripped at least 800,000 Tibetan children from their families, language and culture. This is so tragically similar to what our own Indigenous Australians have faced with the stolen generations. Yangkyi also told me about how, at just four months old, she was left with her grandparents as her parents escaped Tibet across the Himalayas. We need to call out human rights abuses wherever they occur, and that includes Tibet. Thank you, Yangkyi, Shenphen and Dolma, for sharing your stories with me.

As we mark the 90th birthday of the Dalai Lama, Australia must commit to recognising a new Dalai Lama chosen only through traditional Tibetan practices. There must be no interference by the Chinese government in this sacred tradition. The Greens have always supported the Tibetan people and their right to self-determination, freedom of expression and freedom of religion.