Alexander Downer (Mayo, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I first thank the honourable member for her question and for her interest. I think the House would be aware that there were some reports in newspapers this morning which, I must admit, very much surprised me that the Indonesian Supreme Court had increased the sentences of four of the Australians who were amongst the nine. Those sentences have been increased to the death penalty. The reports relate to Scott Rush, who was sentenced to life—he had been appealing for a reduction in that sentence; to Si Yi Chen; to Tan Duc Nguyen; and to Matthew Norman. They were all first sentenced to life by the Denpasar District Court. On appeal to the Bali High Court, they had their sentences reduced to 20 years. The prosecution had then appealed to the Indonesian Supreme Court to have the original sentence reinstated.

I understand that in none of these four cases had the prosecution at any of these stages asked for the death penalty. Having said that, the House would be aware that the death penalty had been applied in two cases. The reports suggest that those two death penalties have been upheld as well.

Since we heard of these reports, the embassy in Jakarta has been doing everything it can to try to establish whether these reports are correct or not. Let me tell the House I do not know, even at this time, whether these reports are correct or whether they are not correct. The embassy has spoken to the Minister for Law and Justice, they have spoken to the Attorney-General, they have spoken to their departments, and they have spoken to people in the Indonesian Supreme Court—all of these—in the course of this morning, and still they have been unable to establish whether these reports are correct or not.

I am not suggesting that these reports are wrong; I am not suggesting they are right. At this time we simply do not know. When we get confirmation one way or another, the government will approach the families involved first, and subsequently we will make some public comments about it. It is important to remember—as I know all members of the House will remember and do remember—the sensitivities of the families and obviously those directly affected. I know all members of parliament respect that.

In conclusion, let me make the point that, in the event of Australians being sentenced to death, it is the policy of the Australian government and has been for many years to appeal for clemency. If these reports are correct, we will appeal to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the appropriate time for clemency for these Australians who may be sentenced to death. But let me say, finally, that Australians should never forget that drug trafficking—particularly trafficking in heroin—in Asian countries, with very few exceptions, brings with it the death penalty. While we do not have the death penalty in this country, many countries in the region do. Although we do not approve of the death penalty, we certainly take the view that countries that take strong action against drug trafficking, above all into our own country, are countries that are doing the right thing.

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