Philip Ruddock (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to raise the standard of the parliament by raising a matter today on which members agree rather than disagree. Last Saturday, 10 October, marked the World Day Against the Death Penalty. This is, in my view, a matter of global importance. To mark this occasion, I was pleased to be able to speak at the Australians Against Capital Punishment annual dinner in Brisbane. I want to thank Stephen Keim SC for the work he put into arranging it, and to acknowledge my fellow speaker, Julian McMahon, who was very, very much involved in defending the two Australians tragically executed in Indonesia. At the dinner I was able to outline the activities currently being undertaken by colleagues in this parliament in raising awareness and ending the death penalty, and the ongoing busy schedule of the Australian Parliamentarians against the Death Penalty, which I chair with the member for Fowler. Indeed, we met with Amnesty International and Reprieve only yesterday.

I welcome the inquiry into Australia's advocacy for the abolition of the death penalty—the first of its kind—which is being undertaken by the Human Rights Subcommittee of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, which I chair. Finally, I want to commend the Minister for Foreign Affairs for her advocacy in a recent address to the United Nations General Assembly in which she affirmed Australia's strong opposition to the death penalty. (Time expired)