In general, I agree with his sentiments. However, attempts are being made within the present Council to save money. I, along with Councillors Frost and Jones, negotiated the implementation of a Service Review of all Council services to run in conjunction with the State Government enforced rate rises.

This Review will determine if Council is providing the services to best fit community needs, and how these can be provided most effectively. There is the opportunity to save money from both these angles.

I seek re-election so that I can, among other work,  continue this quest to drive down costs and minimise rate increases.

Greg Butler

Below is a 72 year old lady's experience in the car tour today. She and her daughter are witnesses of China’s organ harvesting. 

"My name is Xiaofang Wang. I’m 72 years old. I had poor health since I was a child. I started practicing Falun Gong, a peaceful meditation practice, in May 1997. My health improved greatly, and my husband and daughter joined me in practicing Falun Gong too.

However, since the Chinese government began persecuting Falun Gong in July 1999, my family suffered from brutal persecution. I was detained at a detention centre and sent to forced labor camp for one year without reason. My husband is a Chinese-language teacher, a knowledgeable teacher. He lost his job as a teacher after 1999 because he practises Falun Gong. He is not allowed to teach anymore. My daughter was illegally detained five times. My son-in law was detained was illegally detained four times. The Chinese government refused to issue a passport to him.

In 2001, I was taken to Wulabo Labor Camp in Urumqi. After being on the road for one day without food and water, I was let out of a vehicle at night. After I got out of the vehicle, the guards immediately tortured me – I was forced to stand for hours until I couldn't stand any more. I almost collapsed. In the Labor Camp, two vicious supervisors monitored me. They tortured me and insulted me at their will. I was constantly forced to sit on a small bench the size of a fist, with my back straight and hands in my lap. They stung me with needles and slapped my face. During the night, they would wake me up continuously. They would do anything at their disposal to stop me getting sleep. I was in bad shape. My vision became blurry, as though something was covering my eyes. My heart was beating irregularly and sometimes felt as though it had stopped. I was in a great pain.

When my daughter was thrown into labor camp in January 2001 and December 2002, the camp gave her two blood tests. The first time she was on her own; the second time, all Falun Gong practitioners were blood tested. The camp claimed that these were for the benefit of their health. My daughter was illegally detained at Shanghai Pudong Detention Centre in 2012. During this time, they forced her to undergo a thorough check-up. They gave her blood tests, X-ray, CT scan, ultrasound, and electroconvulsive therapy. The police said that only Falun Gong practitioners were ordered to undergo these thorough examinations. 

My daughter and I later found out that these tests were not regular check-ups – these tests were used to assess us as organ donors. All these tests that Falun Gong practitioners undergo have something to do with the brutal organ harvesting that is happening in China today. These horrific facts have terrified us. 

It has been 17 years since the Chinese Communist government began persecuting Falun Gong practitioners in 1999. I hope more kind Australians will stand up for justice, for human rights, and help us to stop the persecution.

Stacey Wang: Falun Dafa Association