Nicola Roxon (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to take this opportunity in the adjournment debate tonight to speak about the death penalty, an issue on which a number of members in this House had hoped to move a joint motion. Unfortunately, the opportunity for doing that to mark the 15th anniversary of the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty, passed while we were not sitting. I want to read into the Hansard the motion that is supported across the House. It was seconded by the member for Cook, Bruce Baird—and I am pleased that he is able to be here tonight—and co-signed by a number of my colleagues: Peter Andren, the member for Calare; Tony Burke, the member for Watson; Duncan Kerr, the member for Denison, who I believe is going to speak on the matter as well; Carmen Lawrence, the member for Fremantle; Tanya Plibersek, the member for Sydney; and Robert McClelland, the member for Barton. Although not signed by them, I know it was supported by the member for Fraser, Bob McMullan, and the member for Brisbane, Arch Bevis.

This makes up the core of a group of people who have formed the Cross-Party Parliamentary Working Group Against the Death Penalty. The group is co-chaired by Tony Burke, the member for Watson, Senator Gary Humphries and Senator Natasha Stott Despoja. Members include Laurie Ferguson, the member for Reid, and Senator Claire Moore. A number of others have also indicated an interest in being actively involved in this group.

We formed this group to voice our opposition to the death penalty. Of course, here in Australia the death penalty no longer exists. But we want to be able to advocate our position in the broader region. We see as our ultimate goal the abolition of the death penalty altogether, irrespective of which country you are in or the crime that has been committed. I would like to read the motion that we wanted to put before the House. It read:

That this House:

(1)

notes that 11 July 2006 marks the 15th anniversary of the entry into force of the United Nations’ Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights aiming at the abolition of the death penalty;

I might note, just as an aside, that this came into force on 11 July 1991, 15 years ago, but we still do have many countries around the world—71, in fact—that retain and use the death penalty. The protocol prohibits ratifying countries from executing anyone and prohibits the reintroduction of the death penalty by signatories. The proposed motion went on to say that the House:

(2)

notes that 57 countries have signed and ratified the Second Optional Protocol, including Australia;

(3)

notes that, while Australia has ratified the Second Optional Protocol, this Parliament has not yet adopted the Protocol into domestic law;

(4)

reaffirms its opposition to capital punishment; and—

most importantly, I think, for the debate in this House and for us as a group—

(5)

on a bipartisan level, calls for the Australian Government, this Parliament and the Parliaments of the States and Territories to work together to adopt the Second Optional Protocol into domestic law with binding force over the Commonwealth, the States and all the Territories.

As I say, we were hoping we would be able to debate this in another form. I am not going to be so bold as to put words into the mouths of other members who will not be able to speak, but that motion was an agreed text between all of us, and I think it is fair to say that very strong views are held amongst this group and more broadly amongst our parliamentary colleagues. It is probably not an issue that people always think about a lot, because we are not confronted with it on a daily basis here in Australia. But, of course, many of us have recently experienced this debate. Only last year an Australian was executed in Singapore and other Australians are charged with offences for which the death penalty applies in a range of neighbouring countries as we speak.

If we look beyond Australia’s circumstances, the fact that 71 countries still retain and use the death penalty is quite staggering. During 2005 at least 2,148 people were executed in 22 countries and more than double—5,186 people—were sentenced to death in 53 countries. These figures are according to Amnesty International’s research. While the total figure for those currently condemned to death and awaiting execution is difficult to access, human rights researcher Mark Warren has estimated the number at between 19,000 and 24,000.

This is a very serious problem and not one that can be dealt with adequately in the five minutes that I have to speak tonight. I would like to refer colleagues to a paper that has just recently been released by the Lowy Institute called Capital punishment and Australian foreign policy, which is an interesting perspective on this debate and might be useful in furthering people’s understanding of the issue. (Time expired)