Dharamsala, August 20 – The Australian government has voted down a motion that sought permission for His Holiness the Dalai Lama to sit in a parliamentary gallery when he visits Australia in December.
The Australian Greens and independent senator Nick Xenophon who tabled the motion to invite the Tibetan leader to the senate blamed “fear of Beijing” for the decision.
Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young says the spiritual leader has previously addressed the US Congress and the European Parliament and the Senate has missed a valuable opportunity.
Greens leader Bob Brown said it was appropriate for His Holiness the Dalai Lama to sit in the Senate’s distinguished visitors’ gallery, which is reserved for members of governments, because he was the political leader of the exiled Tibetan people, reported Sydney Morning Herald
“Let’s not beat around the bush here, the fact is there’s fear of Beijing alive and well,” Senator Brown told the Senate. “The China syndrome is alive and well.”
Senator Brown said he would try another option, the president’s gallery in the Senate, for His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
The government’s manager of government business in the Senate Joe Ludwig said the gallery was for members of governments, which the Dalai Lama was not, according to Sydney Morning Herald
“Successive Australian governments have consistently adhered to the one China policy, we recognise China’s sovereignty over Tibet,” Senator Ludwig told the Senate.
“The Australian government does not recognise the Tibetan government in exile as a government.” Allowing the Dalai Lama to sit in the gallery “could easily be misconstrued as some kind of political recognition”, he cautioned.
Relations between Australia and China have soured over Australia granting visa to exile Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer and the detention of Rio Tinto executive Stern Hu.
