Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate—

(a)

notes that:

(i)

Friday, 10 October 2008 is the sixth annual World Day Against the Death Penalty, and

(ii)

this day of action was established in 2003 by the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty in a commitment to the universal abolition of capital punishment; and

(b)

calls on the Rudd Government to urge the 60 remaining nation states that continue to use the death penalty as a form of punishment, to abolish the death penalty as a matter of urgency, and halt all executions of those sentenced to death.

Question put.

Helen Coonan (NSW, Liberal Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—Australia’s opposition to capital punishment is well-known internationally. It has been and continues to be a bipartisan policy approach. Australia is one of 60 parties to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which requires state parties to abolish the death penalty within their jurisdiction. Australia is strongly committed to the principles espoused by the Second Optional Protocol and encourages its universal ratification. However, the coalition respects the legal systems and processes of other countries, just as we ask other countries to respect our legal system. Consistent with the longstanding bipartisan approach to motions of this kind in the Senate and whilst continuing to oppose capital punishment, the coalition recognises the role of government in this important matter of international significance and supports the government’s position in the Senate on Senator Hanson-Young’s motion.