Canberra, 13th October 2008: Kalon Kesang Yangkyi Takla, kalon for the Department of Information and International Relations of the Central Tibetan Administration, is continuing her eight-day visit to Australia and New Zealand with two days of political meetings in the Australian capital.
This afternoon Mrs. Takla addressed the Foreign Affairs Sub-Committee of the Federal Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade. Mrs. Takla briefed the committee on the current situation in Tibet and requested the Australian Parliament to send a fact-finding delegation to Tibetan areas. She detailed the deteriorating conditions since March including reinvigorated programs of patriotic education, new measures to restrict movement inside Tibet and persistent intimidation from Chinese security forces. Mrs. Takla briefed the committee on the impending eighth round of Tibet-China dialogue and took several questions from committee members.
In the evening Senator Bob Brown, leader of the Australian Greens, hosted a dinner for Kalon Takla. The Australian Greens are the third largest political party in Australia and a growing force in the Australian Parliament. Four of the five Greens Senators attended the dinner, along with Tenzin Atisha (Australian Representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama), Ngodup Gyaltsen of the Tibet Information Office in Canberra and Paul Bourke and Simon Bradshaw of the Australia Tibet Council. Senator Bob Brown is a long-time supporter of Tibet who has worked hard over many years to build parliamentary support for Tibet in Australia.
Tomorrow Mrs. Takla will give a series of interviews to the Australian media before meeting with the Shadow Foreign Minister and senior staff from Amnesty International Australia. In the evening the Australian All-Party Parliamentary Group for Tibet is holding a reception for Mrs. Takla. Several MPs and Senators from each party are expected to attend the dinner.
Mrs. Takla’s busy Australian schedule will conclude on Wednesday when she departs for New Zealand.
