Claire Moore (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yesterday in this place petitions were received signed by 2,227 Queenslanders calling on the government to take action to end the use of the death penalty, particularly in our near neighbours in South-East Asia. This program was instituted by Brisbane’s Catholic Justice and Peace Commission. It was part of an ongoing campaign generated by people in their own parishes across Brisbane, which has naturally been focused by the plight of a family from Brisbane, Lee and Chris Rush and their son Scott. We know the story—it has been across the media—of the experiences of one young man who broke the law and is now facing the death penalty in Indonesia. His parents have worked with their local community to share their pain and horror and to bravely speak out about what it means.

It is all too easy to know the horrific facts about the use of the death penalty across the world. The wonderful work of Amnesty International has kept those facts in front of the world since about 1961 when they began collecting statistics. Senator Joyce talked about how easily figures roll off the tongue. One hundred and thirty-seven countries have abolished the death penalty in law and practice. These are countries that have stood up and said that they are no longer going to use the death penalty. Sixty countries retain and use the death penalty, most often as punishment for people convicted of murder or crimes against the state. At least 1,252 people were known to be executed in 24 countries during 2007. Certainly, we know the true figure is much higher, but on the public record, across 24 countries, 1,252 people were executed. About 88 per cent of the known executions across the world took place in just a few countries, and we know them and it is no surprise: China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the USA. When we look across the world and see the number of people who have already been condemned to death by the state and are waiting to die, on the known figures—and it is very hard to know the real figure—between 18,311 and 27,562 people are known to be waiting to be publicly executed by their countries.

Those figures do tend to come too easily but what we need to know is that just behind every one of those figures is a person, a family and a community. Many of those people have actually broken the law. But what we say, and certainly what the people from the Brisbane Catholic Justice and Peace Commission say, is that the right response, the appropriate response, is not to commit a state sanctioned murder.

The plight of the Rush family in Brisbane has become very publicly known. Last December in Brisbane at their local parish church, Archbishop Bathersby, the Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane, launched the Australian Catholic Social Justice Council’s death penalty paper. This has been written in the last couple of years and it follows on from many years of action by the Catholic Church about the issue of the death penalty across the world. This particular paper, launched at the local Catholic parish where Scott had gone to school and to church, talked about the way that the death penalty has been used across the world. It talked about law. The paper had a chapter by the Jesuit priest Peter Norden, who had worked with the family of Van Nguyen in Melbourne. I remember many people standing in this place and talking about the impact of that particular execution.

What is important though is that people understand the personal impact and that they see the pain by looking at particular experiences. I want to mention a couple of things that have brought home the reality about the theory of whether the death penalty is appropriate or not. I want to mention a couple of occasions. One, of course, is working with the Rushes in Brisbane and seeing their frustration and pain and their wondering how this could happen to their family—never running away from the fact their son had committed a crime but saying publicly that his murder does not take away the crime and that his murder serves no purpose.

I do want to mention a couple of things so they are put on record for people to think about. The Lowy Institute in Sydney have a number of very good publications, and they have been looking into international law for many years. They reminded me in one of their recent publications about a book I read when I was quite young. It was one of George Orwell’s books, and in it there is the most heart-stopping—probably a useful adjective, in this case—description of walking behind a man who was going to be hanged in Burma. This was in the early part of the 20th century. He tells the story in wonderful language, as Orwell always did. It says that, as he was watching and walking with this man who was going to be hanged for some crime at that time, he noticed as they walked towards the gallows the man stepped aside to avoid a puddle in the path to the gallows. It was that moment that instantly brought home that this was a human being and that what was happening to him was wrong.

Another circumstance I want to put on record is some meetings that I have had with members of the Iranian community in Brisbane in which they have talked about their concerns about human rights, justice and the crime rate in Iran, their home country. They encouraged me to watch one of the DVDs they brought with them and I did watch it. In some ways, I am pleased I watched it. In other ways, it has haunted me from the time I watched it. The DVD showed executions of young people in Iran. It showed people being taken to the gallows, and they have so many executions in that country that they do not have the gallows that we have in our minds from the various movies we have seen; they use construction cranes. I have not been able to look at a construction crane in the same way since I watched that DVD. I think that kind of personal response is what we need to have as members of a parliament when we are looking at what we believe about the death penalty.

There is no argument that Australia does not support the death penalty. All our states—because it does come under state jurisdiction—have ceased to have this process. Also, at the United Nations, we have stood up against the death penalty, and the Australian government has a strong record of trying to work with other governments, particularly in the cases of Australians who are facing that issue. We know that more and more young Australians are being caught up in different penal systems and could end up facing the death penalty. But, as Archbishop Bathersby said when he launched the Australian Catholic social justice paper, we cannot be selective in our opposition to the death penalty. Certainly, our hearts go out to Australians and Australian families—and I take the message from the Brisbane Catholic social justice group—but it cannot be a selective decision. This is a decision for all governments. We cannot say that the death penalty is wrong for some, particularly Australian citizens, but not for all. I gave my commitment to the people who signed the petition in Brisbane, I gave my commitment to the Rush family in Brisbane and I give my commitment to people who are involved in this process that their voices will be heard. Their action, which culminated over a period in March, to call attention to the issue of the death penalty in the world must be reacted to and must have some response from us. There is no way that we as a community can accept that this is an appropriate action. It does not reflect human dignity, it does not reflect justice and we must stand up against this process—wherever it is and whoever is the victim.