Michael Danby, Labor Member for Melbourne Ports, made a speech in Federal Parliament on 9 May 2007 calling on the Chinese authorities to release the Panchen Lama before the Beijing Olympics. Read More

Following the cancellation of his visit to Belgium as a result of China’s pressure on the Belgian government, the Dalai Lama has sent the following message to the Tibet Support Groups meeting in Brussels.

The Belgian Government has revealed China’s efforts to pressure them into asking the Dalai Lama to reconsider his planned visit to Brussels in May. As a result of this pressure, primarily in connection with the upcoming visit of a Belgian trade delegation to China, the Belgian Government made repeated requests for the Dalai Lama to cancel the visit.

The Dalai Lama will now be unable to attend the 5th International Conference of Tibet Support Groups to be held in Brussels from 11 to 14 May 2007. The Dalai Lama said that he understood the Belgian Government’s position and, in keeping with his principled approach of not wanting to inconvenience any host government in any way, had acceded to its request.

During the week 26 February to 4 March 2007 over 5,000 people visited the Melbourne Town Hall to see an exhibition celebrating the life of the Buddha and his 2550 anniversary. The Buddhist Council of Victoria brought together a beautiful array of rare Buddhist art drawn from all over the world. Images came from India, Sri Lanka, Burma, China, Tibet, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Japan, Korea, Laos and Nepal. Many new interpretations which were created in Australia were also on display.
See photos of the exhibition