Australian Senator Dean Smith Calls for Magnitsky-Style Sanctions Against Chinese Authorities Responsible for Transnational Repression

Canberra: Senator Dean Smith, Co-Chair of the Australian Parliamentary Group for Tibet, raised concerns in the Senate on 20 August 2026 about China’s new “Ethnic Unity and Progress Law” and its potential impact on Tibetans living in Australia.

Senator Smith said that Australia is home to vibrant Tibetan, Uyghur, Hong Kong and other diaspora communities who come to this country seeking freedom, democracy and the protection of the rule of law. They should never have to fear that exercising those freedoms in Australia could place them or their families overseas at risk.

He further said that, for members of the Australian Tibetan community, simply voting in elections for the Tibetan government in exile, publicly supporting the Dalai Lama, or expressing their cultural and religious identity could potentially be interpreted by Chinese authorities as conduct falling within these sweeping laws.

He called for the Australian Government to recognise transnational repression as a genuine national security threat and to consider targeted sanctions, including Magnitsky-style sanctions against individuals responsible for organising or directing overseas repression and intimidation.

– Report filed by Office of Tibet, Canberra