Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury) Share this | Hansard source

It's a welcome addition to this parliament that there's been a noticeable improvement in the level of interest that Australian parliamentarians have been giving to the issue of human rights. I make this observation as a former chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights. It is not good enough to be interested in a human right; it is important to be interested in all human rights, because it's the consistency of their application that protects the human rights of all people at all times.

I rise this evening to acknowledge an issue that is very, very close to my heart, and an event that took place last year. Australia, we can be proud, has demonstrated through the decades that we are a progressive, forward-looking and humane nation. The abolition of the death penalty here is a proud testament to this.

Queensland became the first place in both Australia and the British Commonwealth—then the British Empire—to abolish the death penalty in 1922, and it was because of the centenary of that event last year that I had cause to travel to Brisbane to celebrate and commemorate this important human rights achievement at the Queensland parliament. I was pleased to be in the presence of the Hon. Michael Kirby as he gave a keynote address on this important occasion. Justice Kirby noted that capital punishment was quickly adopted in England's overseas colonies, including in Australia and, notably Queensland. The reform of this aspect of criminal punishment proved most resistant to change. This is why the abolition of the availability of the sentence of death in Queensland on 1 August 1922, a century ago last year, is so worthy of remembrance, because it led to change across our whole country and, indeed, across the world.

But it took time. Tasmania abolished the death penalty in 1968. The Commonwealth followed five years later in 1973. Victoria did so in 1975, South Australia in 1976 and Western Australia in 1984. New South Wales finally abolished the death penalty for all crimes in 1985. Abolition first arose as a topic of intense parliamentary debate in 1899, sparked by increasing public unrest and a distaste for the practice. Hotly debated in 1922, as you would expect, the pivotal Criminal Code Amendment Act—the one where we celebrated its abolition—received assent by a narrow 33 to 30 votes, but became the law. My state of Western Australia was one of the last to officially abolish the death penalty, but it became a defunct practice after the 1960s. Serial killer Eric Edgar Cooke became the last person to be hanged in WA in 1964.

I think it is important here to lay out why I personally oppose, and I believe others should oppose, the death penalty. For many people of faith, the idea of state-sanctioned killing brings one of the Ten Commandments, that 'Thou shall not kill', to the forefront of our consideration. Of course, we know that the death penalty is the final and absolute punishment. It offers no recourse in being able to correct any miscarriage of justice.

I'll return to the story of Eric Cooke, a West Australian. Eighteen-year-old Darryl Beamish was convicted of the 1959 murder of Jillian Brewer. Beamish was sentenced to death, but his sentence was later changed to life imprisonment after new evidence came to light pointing to his innocence. Beamish was found innocent because the murder he was charged with was committed by Cooke. Another man, John Button, found himself in a similar situation and was later reprieved. The fact that innocent men like Beamish and Button faced the hangman's noose for murders committed by another is a clear reminder of the precariousness of the death penalty—in the 1960s and now—as well as why its abolition was an important step forward for society, not to mention an important moral victory.

Most Australians today see the death penalty as an abhorrent and outdated practice, and we should welcome that. While from time to time, when unspeakable crimes are committed, we hear calls for its return, we have seen through public polling that most Australians remain overwhelmingly opposed to it. We saw proof of this opposition when two Australians from the Bali Nine, Myuran Sukamaran and Andrew Chan, faced execution by firing squad in 2015. There were appeals for clemency for the two from all sections of our society. Unfortunately, we know all too well that the death penalty extends far beyond the boundaries of our neighbour Indonesia.

A key feature of Australia's constant advocacy against the death penalty has been the Australian parliament's multipartisan work through the Australian parliamentarians against the death penalty parliamentary group. In the 47th Parliament, in this parliament, a group of many members and senators have again committed themselves to working internationally with other parliaments and with non-government organisations to advance the abolition of the death penalty. When international campaigning first began to abolish the penalty in 1977, there were just 16 countries that had abolished the penalty. As of 2021, a total of 108 countries have abolished the death penalty for all crimes. Despite this success, a third of the world still lives under legal frameworks which comprise capital punishment.

Tonight I want to particularly acknowledge the work of a wonderful, committed, passionate but small group of Australians. They are known as the Capital Punishment Justice Project. They work to free people from the death penalty around the world. They are a committed group of Australians. I want to share two points that they drew to my attention just last year. The first is with regard to Bangladesh, about which the Capital Punishment Justice Project says: 'Since 2009, 2,606 people have been sentenced to death. Many people languish on death row in solitary confinement whilst their cases make their way through the courts, with can take more than 10 years. A further 320 people were sentenced to death in 2021.' With regard to Singapore they have said: 'Since October 2021, Singapore has issued at least 15 execution warrants and executed at least 11 men. Of the 11 men executed, 10 were convicted of relatively low-level heroin trafficking and one convicted of trafficking cannabis. There are now approximately 55 people on death row, almost all for drug offences, mostly members of poor, disadvantaged minorities.' This is Singapore, a country we would regard as a peer in the family of liberal democracies. Tomorrow, I invite members and senators to come to a meeting of Australians Against the Death Penalty where we will meet with human rights championships from Singapore to talk about this terrible and atrocious practice that is happening in a country like Singapore.

I end my contribution with the words of Michael Kirby: 'The project begun on 1 August 1922 remains incomplete. Humanity must not endure a further century of argument, attempted persuasion and agitation to complete the challenge launched in the Queensland parliament in 1922. Australians should on honour and remember the political leaders, judges and advocates, politicians and civil society leaders for standing up and speaking out on the death penalty.' Here in this place, on this evening, I encourage all of my colleagues to adopt the spirit of the 100th anniversary of the abolition of the death penalty and join with me and their colleagues in this Australian parliament by arguing, campaigning and advocating for the continued abolition of the death penalty wherever it presents itself.

Senate adjourned at 21:23