Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes:

  (i) that 10 October 2018 is World Day Against the Death Penalty,

  (ii) the bi-partisan position of Australian governments over many years in their continued opposition to the death penalty in all circumstances for all people, and their commitment to pursuing the universal abolition of the death penalty through all avenues available,

  (iii) that the theme of the 2018 World Day Against the Death Penalty is to raise awareness of the inhumane living conditions of people sentenced to death;

(b) acknowledges the Australian Government's Strategy for Abolition of the Death Penalty, which details Australia's reasons for opposing the death penalty because:

  (i) it is irrevocable, miscarriages of justice cannot be rectified, and no legal system is safe from error,

  (ii) it denies any possibility of rehabilitation to the convicted individual,

  (iii) there is no convincing evidence that it is a more effective deterrent than long-term or life imprisonment, and

  (iv) it is unfair – it is used disproportionately against the poor, people with intellectual or mental disabilities and minority groups;

(c) acknowledges the overwhelming number of senators who voted in the Senate, on 19 June 2018, in favour of Australia's position on the death penalty; and

(d) notes that on World Day Against the Death Penalty, the Australian film Guilty, which documents the final 72-hours in the life of Myuran Sukumaran, the Bali-9 convicted criminal who, along with Andrew Chan, was executed by a firing squad in Indonesia on 29 April 2015, will be screened in every state and territory in the country.

Question agreed to.