Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I want to thank the member for Cook and the member for Pearce for again bringing this motion before the House. It concerns an issue that we cannot forget and that we should not let go away. The issue of capital punishment should not be lost with the death of Van Nguyen. As the member for Cook has rightly pointed out, there are at least four Australians sitting on death row at the moment waiting for their eventful day.

The death penalty is abhorrent and has never been shown to be a deterrent against any crime. Indeed, in countries where the death penalty is mandatory for certain categories of crime there has been an increase in the rate of the crimes for which enforcement of the death penalty is mandatory, particularly drug trafficking and murder. Van Nguyen was executed in Singapore last year. Singapore argues that it is the strict anti-drug laws, including the death penalty, that deter drug traffickers. Yet scientific studies of crime have consistently failed to find convincing evidence that the death penalty deters crimes more effectively than any other punishment. Amnesty International says:

We are aware of no evidence from anywhere in the world that shows a decline in drug trafficking which is clearly a result of the threat, or the use, of the death penalty ... The death penalty is the ultimate form of cruel and inhuman punishment, and a violation of fundamental human rights ...

That is what Amnesty International argues, and I wholeheartedly agree with it. Indeed, the execution of Van Nguyen did nothing more than send a message to the people at the top of the drug trafficking chain that, if you use poor, innocent, naive individuals like Van, they are the ones who will be executed, not the people who are actually funding and plying the trade; that it will never get up to the top of that ring if you knock off the people further down the line. Indeed, by executing Van before he could provide information about the ringleaders in the gang that he was working for, those people will never come to trial; they will actually be protected by his execution.

Sadly, the vast majority of the world’s executions today take place in our region. The death penalty is practised in China, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan, South Korea, the Philippines and Japan. Amnesty International has recently released data on the death penalty. It has revealed that over 20,000 people across the world are currently sitting on death row waiting to be killed by their own governments. In its latest annual analysis of the use of the death penalty worldwide, Amnesty International also discloses that at least 2,148 people were executed during 2005 in 22 countries—94 per cent in China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the US alone—and that 5,186 people were sentenced to death in 53 countries during 2005. Amnesty International cautions that these figures are only approximate because many countries, like China, refuse to publish full official statistics on execution, while Vietnam has never disclosed its figures. Indeed, one Chinese legal expert has recently been quoted as saying that the true figure for executions is approximately 8,000—that is, 8,000 people being killed by their own government.

To many these figures are just statistics, but for one of my constituents, Kim Nguyen, they are a tragic reality. I spoke to Kim last week. I often drop by her place, but nowadays she does not open the door too much. I spoke to Kim on the phone for quite a length of time. I also got a local interpreter to speak to her, and I want to thank that individual for doing that in Vietnamese. It was probably one of the hardest conversations that poor gentleman has had in a long time. Kim says she is okay but, as the tears flowed during our conversation, I know she is not. She feels that she cannot go outside nowadays. She has not felt that she can return to work. She feels that people everywhere are staring at her, that they know who she is and that they either quietly condemn her for her son’s actions or pity her. This is just tragic, but she says that staying at home is more horrific because everywhere there are reminders of her son who is now dead. Kim is extremely grateful to all those who supported her and her family during this tragic time, but now her life is just a daily struggle, a daily reminder of her lost son.

No-one ever argued that Van should not have been punished. No-one ever argued that he did not deserve some sort of penalty—indeed, a harsh penalty—for the crime he committed, but he should never have been punished by death. The tragic loss of Van’s life and the penalty that now hangs over other individuals who are on death row should give us a loud reminder that we in Australia need to do something. We need to lead the charge to ultimately end the death penalty. We need to send a strong message that it does not matter what your crime is, whether it is drug trafficking or terrorism: the death penalty is wrong. We need to send a consistently strong message that no life is worth this end, that execution has no place in society and that everyone’s life is sacred. Whether or not they are Australian citizens, Australia should be leading the charge to say that we want to end this barbaric practice because it diminishes all of us. (Time expired)

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