Next week you can receive live updates via the @ATC_EyeOnTibet Twitter blog as ATC staff head to Canberra for another busy two days of lobbying at the Federal Parliament.

In between, here’s a brief summary of recent activities in Parliament House:

In our last entry we reported that Michael Danby MP had asked the Government to disclose any information it had been able to obtain on eleven high-priority political prisoners on which ATC has been campaigning. You can download and read a pdf of the Foreign Minister’s answers here.

The incomplete information provided by the Foreign Minister has been gained through the Australia-China Human Rights Dialogue and through contact between the Australian Embassy in Beijing and relevant Chinese authorities following requests from ATC.

Sadly the Government has as yet been able to obtain further information on Tibetan filmmaker, Dhondup Wangchen, arrested in March 2008 after gathering footage for the powerful documentary “Leaving Fear Behind”, currently awaiting trial and now the subject of a major international campaign. View campaign

Parliamentarians Respond To Mr Rudd’s ‘No Meeting’ Announcement
Members of our Parliamentary Tibet group have responded to the Prime Minister’s unexpected announcement that he will not meet the Dalai Lama by pushing the Government for answers on how it intends to actively support a peaceful resolution of the Tibetan issue.

Peter Slipper MP, another long-time supporter of Tibet, friend of the Dalai Lama and co-convenor of the Australian All-Party Parliamentary Group for Tibet has asked the Prime Minister a number of questions concerning the Tibet-China dialogue, in addition to asking what pressure Australia may be under to support China’s position on Tibet and what steps the Government intends to take next.

On 22 October 2009, Senator Scott Ludlam of the Greens quizzed DFAT officials during a Supplementary Budget Estimates session on their understanding of recent developments in Tibet and any progress in the Australia-China Human Rights Dialogue.

Working at the parliamentary level can be a slow and laborious process. But we’ll be sure to bring you answers when we have them and continue to do all we can to encourage meaningful action on Tibet from the Australian Government.