Kalon Kesang Yangkyi Takla, kalon for the Department of Information and International Relations, addressed the Foreign Affairs Sub-Committee of the Federal Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade in Canberra on 13 October.
Kalon Takla briefed the committee on the current situation in Tibet and requested the Australian Parliament to send a fact-finding delegation to Tibetan areas.
Kalon Takla 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.
She briefed the committee on the coming eighth round of discussions on Tibet between the Chinese government and the envoys of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and took several questions from committee members.
Later 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.
On 14 October, Kalon 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 Kalon Takla. Several MPs and Senators from each party are expected to attend the dinner.
Kalob Takla’s Australian schedule will conclude on Wednesday when she departs for New Zealand.
–Based on report by ATC