A recent gathering of Falun Gong members in Gosford’s Kibble Park resulted in over 200 people signing a petition to support the group’s campaign to bring China’s alleged illegal organ harvesting to the attention of the United Nations.
Narara resident, Ms Lisa Ng, whose mother Ms Fengying Zhang is a Falun Gong practitioner who was unlawfully imprisoned many times while living in China, organised the peaceful gathering.
The Kibble Park event on Wednesday, July 22 included a demonstration by Falun Gong members working through their daily Qigong exercises, along with signature gathering and dissemination of information about illegal organ harvesting in China.
According to Ms Ng, Falun Gong is a Chinese spiritual practice based around Qigong exercises and following a philosophy of truthfulness, compassion and forbearance.
She said the numbers of Falun Gong members who have gone missing and never found, along with Chinese statistics about rapid organ transplants, are evidence that illegal organ harvesting is happening in China.
Ms Ng and a delegation of Falun Gong members, including individuals who still have family members illegally detained in China, met with member for Robertson, Ms Lucy Wicks MP and a representative of Senator Deborah O’Neill to ask for their support.
“Ms Wicks hadn’t heard about illegal organ harvesting and said she would make enquiries with the foreign minister about the Federal Government’s position,” Ms Ng said.
Ms Ng said she had already had ongoing support from Sen O’Neill when she was member for Robertson and wanted to update her on the group’s local and global efforts to bring the issue to the attention of the international community.
“The European Parliament passed a resolution in 2013 to condemn live organ harvesting,” Ms Ng said. “Canada has a Human Rights Commission that also passed a resolution and we hope the Australian Government will also express its concerns,” she said.
Last year Falun Gong members collected 1.5 million signatures around the world in support of their cause and this year they are aiming for 2 million, according to Ms Ng.
She said as a result of the positive response received from Gosford residents, Falun Gong will be offering free exercise classes at Kibble Park every Sunday from 10:15am.
Interview, 22 July 2015
Lisa Ng, Narara
Jackie Pearson, journalist