Falun Gong says Australia is not taking seriously allegations its followers in China are being rounded up to have their organs removed for sale.
The issue was raised yesterday during talks between Australia and China for an annual human rights dialogue.
But deputy secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), David Ritchie, said the evidence for organ harvesting was not necessarily there.
On Wednesday 26th July, Falun Gong protesters in Australia - who have held a vigil outside the Chinese embassy in Canberra for the past five years - said Australia was not taking the claims seriously.
"Mr Ritchie's dismissive comment in response to the issue of organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners in China raises the question of whether DFAT has seriously assessed the independent report by Canadian ... international human rights lawyer, David Matas," the group said in a statement.
The investigation found organ harvesting was occurring on a large scale.
"Without giving basis for his comment, Mr Ritchie's response is very similar to the Chinese regime's dismissal of the independent findings on the same day they were published, which indicated that the regime had no intention of taking the report seriously and investigating the claims," Falun Gong said.
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