Page 2755 - Week 09 - Thursday, 25 August 1994
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Tibet
MR STEFANIAK (5.25): Madam Speaker, I endorse the remarks made by Ms Follett and Mr Moore in relation to Mal Meninga and our other sporting heroes. I rise, however, in relation to a different matter, Madam Speaker. At lunchtime today Mr Humphries and I saw Tsering Norzom, vice-president of the Tibetan Women's Association. She is visiting Canberra with a delegation to raise awareness of the plight of women in occupied Tibet in the lead-up to the United Nations conference on women to be held in Beijing in 1995.
As members are perhaps aware, there is only a small Tibetan community of some 70 people in Canberra. Tibet has been under the occupation of China effectively since 1959. Tibet, throughout its history, has largely been an independent country and at times an autonomous country dependent on China. China invaded Tibet in the eighteenth century but the presence did not last long. Tibet was a suzerainty country of the Chinese Empire in the last century, and the Chinese had minimal, if any, control of Tibet. In 1910 China again invaded Tibet, but that invasion was short lived. The Chinese Empire collapsed on 10 October 1911, when there was a revolution, and Tibet again became autonomous. In 1949 the communists again invaded Tibet. The Chinese did not, at that stage, impose a particularly draconian regime on Tibet. However, they imposed a creeping form of communism which the Tibetan people resisted in 1959, which led to a massive invasion. At that time, Madam Speaker, there were some seven to eight million Tibetans. Now, sadly, there are only six million. Tibet had most of its cultural heritage, most of its monasteries and many of its old buildings flattened during the great cultural revolution in the late 1960s. The Chinese Government at present is continuing a system of oppression in Tibet. There are some vague attempts to rebuild several monasteries, mainly for tourism.
Ms Norzom, when she spoke to Mr Humphries and me, expressed concern in relation to a number of areas. She spoke of a continual influx of Chinese and restrictions on the right of Tibetan women to have children. There are fines and severe penalties if you have more than one child in Lhasa. She was very concerned about the Chinese Government attempting to destroy traditional Tibetan values and traditional Tibetan homes in Lhasa and placing great restrictions on Tibetan religion. There is no right of free speech. Of particular note was the fact that 14 Tibetan nuns who are in prison and who sang a national song had their prison sentences increased from seven years to 14 years.
Ms Norzom is very keen for the Tibetan women in exile to go to the conference in Beijing. They have applied to the United Nations to enable them to go. They are very concerned that if they do go they will be arrested and imprisoned, or worse, by the Chinese authorities. They are seeking from parliamentarians in Australia support for Tibet and support for the Tibetan women in exile to be able to send a delegation to the United Nations conference on women in Beijing. The theme throughout that conference will be equality, peace and development. I certainly think it would be most hypocritical if Ms Norzom and her colleagues were denied the ability to go to that conference.
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