Senator BOURNE (Deputy Leader of the Australian Democrats) —I give notice that, on the next day of sitting, I shall move:

That the Senate—

(a)   congratulates the Chinese Government on its decision to release human rights activist, Mr Wei Jingsheng, who has been in prison for all but 6 months of the past 18 years;

(b)   notes that Mr Wei Jingsheng has been nominated for the past 4 years for the Nobel Peace Prize, in recognition of his struggle for political reform in China;

(c)   is of the view that the release of Mr Wei Jingsheng ought to serve to heighten awareness of the more than 2 000 other political prisoners in China; and

(d)   calls on the Chinese Government to end this decades-long repression of political dissidents by also releasing other political prisoners, including Mr Wang Dan, by reviewing the issue of political prisoners and by seeking the assistance of the international community to do this.