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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 9 Hansard (7 September) . . Page.. 3034 ..

MS TUCKER (continuing):

Is it the business possibilities which excite the Labor Party and convinced it to forsake an ethical approach? Both the Labor Party and the Liberal Party are unable, apparently, to see beyond the rewards of power and money. They have limited their thinking entirely to business opportunity. I would remind members of a comment from Bob Brown, who, as I said, went to Tibet and visited the prisons, not on a propaganda bus. He would like people here to be reminded that the Beijing mayor would ensure any citizen setting up a Liberal, Labor or Greens party in Beijing was arrested and imprisoned. The Beijing city authorities and mayor are part of the ruling communist dictatorship. They support the jailing of the monks and nuns, the exile of the Dalai Lama and the banning of political parties and dissent throughout China and Tibet.

We do not exist in this small world of Canberra merely to serve local self-interests. What we do as a self-governing territory does have implications and resonance in the wider world. We of the ACT Greens are not at all alone in our rejection of this sister city proposal. I can assure you that I have received very many phone calls from Chinese people living in this country who will not put their name on a letter because they are nervous of what would come from doing so. We do have, however, plenty of advocacy organisations which are trying to assist those people who are denied basic rights, such as the right to put their name to a letter. I refer to organisations such as Amnesty International and the Australia Tibet Council.

As I said, the ACT Greens are not alone in their rejection of this sister city proposal. Many people in the broader ACT community are offended by it. We have formed a view on this issue through our work alongside grassroots organisations committed to international aid, community development and the ongoing campaign for social justice and human rights, from the local to the global. If the Labor Party and the Liberal Party are afraid to address the question of ethics and make their choices accordingly, they will wear that opprobrium.

Finally, allow me to remind members of a letter sent to us at the Legislative Assembly by a Chinese person. (Further extension of time granted.) I will read a short part of it:

MR MOORE (Minister for Health and Community Care) (5.40): I rise to speak briefly after Ms Tucker's impassioned speech. There is a dilemma with it and with Mr Kaine's speech as well. The dilemma, as I see it, is that if you seek to change the way people manage human rights, how do you go about doing it?

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