A Tibetan monk refugee who is staying at Tuncurry on the NSW mid-north coast is seeking political asylum in Australia.
Lobsang Jenpa, 29, says he escaped from Tibet to India in 2000, and came to Australia in October last year on a tourist visa, staying with his sponsor at Tuncurry.
Sponsor Jule Wood says the monk was originally planning to return to India, but since his arrival has been able to make contact with his family in Tibet.
But she says the Department of Immigration has now asked them to explain why he cannot return to India.
“A monk or nun returning to Tibet without the legal documents, they can honestly be done away with, they’re not safe. Other than that they can be locked away as a political prisoner and they’re never heard of again,” she said.
“Once he’s granted political asylum here he can become an Australian citizen and then he can travel safely as an Australian citizen anywhere around the world.”
