Chris Hayes (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak again in respect of the death penalty involving Australian citizens, and I do so particularly in the aftermath of the execution in Indonesia of the Bali bombers. I am concerned that we as a parliament should do all we can to save the lives of three young Australian citizens now on death row in Bali. I speak not just in pursuit of what I regard as a genuine human rights issue but also as a parent who holds the view that, regardless of what our children do, nothing extinguishes the love and the care we have for our kids. It is as a parent that I empathise with Lee and Christine Rush. As members are aware, I have previously received a number of letters from their son Scott, who is one of the three young Australians on death row in Kerobokan Prison in Bali. Soon after the execution of the Bali bombers, I received a further letter from Scott, dated 16 November 2008. I would like to share with members what he wrote to me:

Dear Mr Hayes

I am writing to you again a week after the execution of the Bali bombers. Things are very tense here. Nobody really knows what is going to happen.

We found out about the executions last Sunday morning. The words went around the Prison like a bush fire. Everyone knows now that Indonesia is serious about executing prisoners. Everybody on death row is just that much closer to death.

My opinion is irrelevant but if you ask me is the world a better place because the bombers are dead? I don’t think so. Anyway I don’t care much for Amrozi and the other bombers, but now there is a danger they could become heroes. Inside the death tower we are very nervous.

I’m trying to keep myself strong by exercising and keeping my body fit. I want you to know how much we all really appreciate what you and your colleagues are doing for us.

I really hope when your motion in Parliament gets debated how much it may help other stupid people like me in the future, also to save much pain for their parents.

There is not much I can share with you from here but there is a passage in Galatians that we read often. It is about receiving and sharing the gifts of the spirit. We will read this tonight and share the gifts of the spirit with you.

That’s about it from here. Please remember me to your wife Bernadette and to your family.

Yours sincerely

Scott Rush

P.S I am really trying to stay strong.

I share this letter because it reflects Scott’s efforts to show good behaviour and his rehabilitation.

Recently I became aware of comments attributed to the Indonesian Deputy Attorney-General in the aftermath of the Bali bombings. Some reports indicate that foreigners who have extinguished all their legal review procedures will be executed soon. I hasten to add that Scott and the other two Australians on death row have not extinguished all their avenues of legal review. I urge the Australian Attorney-General to seek assurances from his Indonesian counterpart that these three young Australians will be given full opportunity and time to prepare and file their motions for reconsideration in the Supreme Court.

Consistent with my notice of motion in the Notice Paper, I urge the government to make all appropriate representations to advance one of the key recommendations of the Indonesian Constitutional Court in its judgement of 30 October 2007, in respect to the Indonesian criminal law. If its recommendations were to be adopted, it would allow a change to the mandatory implementation of the death penalty by providing an option of a probation period of ten years. Where a prisoner could show good behaviour, the death sentence could be commuted to life imprisonment or imprisonment for 20 years. If adopted by the Indonesian authorities within the next 12 months, it could well assist in securing the life of Scott Rush and the other Australians now on death row at Kerobokan Prison.

Finally, I urge the government to move to implement the Second Optional Protocol to the International Convention of Civil and Political Rights in Australia’s domestic law for the reasons I indicated in my notice of motion. You will recall, Madam Deputy Speaker, in that notice of motion I have advocated strongly that the government take this stance so that it not only demonstrates a prohibition on the death penalty here in Australia to all its states and territories but firmly establishes, in front of the world at large, its credentials as an abolitionist country and, as such, plays a significant leadership role in that respect. I honestly believe that Australia and the Republic of Indonesia, in partnership, can show great leadership in advocating human rights not simply through our region but through the world. Given what I now see as a change in the political context in Indonesia that has occurred since the execution of the Bali bombers, I believe this becomes particularly urgent. I encourage all members of parliament to do what they can to advocate for the abolition of the death penalty, and keep these three prisoners in their prayers over Christmas.