I thank you for the opportunity to be part of your World Falun Dafa Day commemorations and send you my warm greetings and support on this important occasion.
Your community continues to endure terrible abuse, torture and persecution and I stand with you in your peaceful fight to live and practice your faith freely.
Now, more than ever, Falun Dafa’s message of truthfulness, compassion and forbearance are an example to all of us – in Australia and around the world.
The Australian Government is committed to promoting and protecting human rights, including freedom of religion or belief for all people.
It is an ongoing concern for the Government, including myself, that ethnic and religious minorities in China are being targeted because of their beliefs and ethnicity.
Rest assured that these concerns will continue to be raised for as long as human rights violations occur.
The Australian Government is also aware of troubling reports of illegal organ harvesting in China, including, at least in the past, organs being harvested from executed prisoners for use in medical transplants.
These practices are an offence to human decency and strongly opposed by the Government, which regularly monitors evidence and new reports through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Australia places great value on every human life and the protection of human rights, including religious and spiritual observance, are enshrined in law, so reports of incidents targeting Falun Gong practitioners here in Australia are of great concern to the Government.
Discrimination has no place in Australian life and these incidents should be reported to authorities.
On this World Falun Dafa Day, we celebrate the Falun Dafa mission to make society a healthier and more harmonious place.
Today, we unite both in support of those who are suffering and in our quest to better protect the human rights of Falun Dafa around the world.