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Dalai Lama unfazed by Julia Gillard snub; thought Prime Minister was a man : By Adam Gartrell

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THE Dalai Lama gave so little thought to the prospect of a meeting with Australia's Prime Minister he didn't even know she was a "she". Asked today whether he was disappointed Julia Gillard had followed Labor tradition by declining a meeting, the Tibetan spiritual leader was blunt: "No." The 75-year-old Buddhist said the goals of his visit were to promote values and religious harmony. "If your prime minister has some kind of spiritual interest then of course my meeting would be useful," he said at Parliament House in Canberra. "Otherwise, I have nothing to ask him. Also, you see, there's no point to seek advice from him." One of the Dalai Lama's aides quietly corrected His Holiness: "Her". "Oh, from her," the 75-year-old said with a laugh.Ms Gillard this week said there was no need for the Prime Minister to meet the Dalai Lama every time he visited. "Given the frequency of his travel to Australia, the Government believes the current arrangements are appropriate," a spokesman for Ms Gillard said. Instead, the Government sent a junior minister to meet the Nobel Peace Prize winner privately. He also met Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, Nationals Leader Warren Truss and Greens Leader Bob Brown. The Australia Tibet Council expressed disappointment with Ms Gillard's decision, pointing out no Labor prime minister had met the Dalai Lama since Paul Keating in 1992. "Strangely, the Prime Minister can find time to fly to Sydney to meet Oprah Winfrey and meets regularly with Chinese officials and heads of industry, yet cannot find 10 minutes to meet the Dalai Lama in Parliament House," said the council's Paul Bourke. Labor backbencher Michael Danby, who helped organise the visit, said he had hoped for a warmer welcome from senior government members. "I hoped in light of recent developments in China, related to the Jasmine Revolution, that at least Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd would seek the Dalai Lama's insights," he said. John Howard met with the Dalai Lama in 1996 and 2007 but Mr Rudd declined meetings in 2008 and 2009, sparking accusations he was kowtowing to China. The Dalai Lama's travels sometimes spark tensions between host countries and China, which regards him as a separatist.

Source

www.couriermail.com.au