Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 13 Hansard (26 November) . . Page.. 4774 ..

Mrs Dunne's amendment agreed to.

Mr Stanhope's amendment, as amended, agreed to.

MRS DUNNE (10.52): Just very briefly, Mr Speaker, I seek the indulgence of the house. I thank members for their straightforward and sensible support for what is meant to be a motion that makes life easier in the long run for the people of the ACT. I think that what we have done tonight is a small step forward in making the waste stream in the ACT that little bit less intractable, and I thank members for their support.

Motion, as amended, agreed to.

Adjournment

Motion (by Mr Wood ) proposed:

That the Assembly do now adjourn.

Falun Gong

Australia Day in the National Capital Inc

MR STEFANIAK (10.53): Mr Speaker, several days ago I was seen by a constituent who was a Falun Gong practitioner who told me a very sad tale in relation to persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in the People's Republic of China. Specifically, she had concerns for some friends of hers who were either residents of Australia or, in one instance, an Australian citizen.

The concerns related to a Yuefen Tao-spelt Y-u-e-f-e-n, given name, and family name, T-a-o. She is a Sydney resident who was actually recently released from a labour camp in Beijing, but there is further action by the government to be confirmed there. The lady, I understand, is trying to leave China to come back to Australia but there are some problems there.

The second person is a friend of my constituent. She is Lin Zhao-L-i-n being her given name and Z-h-a-o her family name-an Australia citizen. My constituent said she was kidnapped from home by the police from Chaoyang district of Beijing on 26 September 2002, current whereabouts unknown. She is an Australian citizen. The other lady is an Australian resident.

My constituent is very concerned at the situation of her friends, as are relatives of those two particular persons. Given that we actually have a sister city relationship with Beijing, I would certainly ask the Chief Minister-I have mentioned this to him and I will formally write to him as well-to use his best endeavours to secure the release and return to Australia of those two persons who are friends of my constituent. As I said, one of them is an Australian citizen, and the other one a resident of Sydney.

On another matter, Mr Speaker: first, I will declare that I might have a bit of a conflict of interest. I am actually on the committee of Australia Day in Canberra, and have been for a number of years, on and off. I was very concerned to see the minister not fund this excellent event, which has been going for 15 years. The committee members are a very

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .