Clemency commitment for all Australians facing death penalty

The Queensland Government has secured the Australian Government’s commitment to seek clemency for any Australian facing the death penalty overseas, including members of the so-called “Bali Nine”.

Queensland Attorney-General Kerry Shine said Attorneys-General from across Australia unanimously agreed to the resolution he moved on the death penalty at the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General (SCAG) meeting in Canberra.

“Australia has abolished the death penalty. Indeed, Queensland was the first to do so in 1922,” Mr Shine said.

“Australia is a signatory to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty.”

Mr Shine said it had been argued, and SCAG agreed, that countries like Australia which had abolished the death penalty there was an “obligation not to expose a person to the risk of its application”.

“Australia has abolished the death penalty. Our responsibilities extend beyond our borders. We should ensure our citizens are not exposed to death penalty overseas, and we should encourage other countries to abolish the death penalty,” Mr Shine said.

Mr Shine said he took the issue to the SCAG meeting after meeting with Lee and Christine Rush, the parents of young Brisbane man Scott Rush who has been convicted for trafficking illicit drugs and is now under the sentence of death.

The Rush family maintains the Australian Federal Police (AFP) were informed prior to their son traveling to Bali, and they were of the understanding the AFP would prevent him from leaving Australia.

“The Queensland Government deplores drug trafficking and those who profit from it. The Queensland Government also respects the sovereignty of other nations,” Mr Shine said.

Mr Shine said SCAG agreed to:

(a) REAFFIRM Australia’s opposition to the death penalty as a signatory to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty;

(b) REAFFIRM Australia should comply with the United Nations Human Rights Committee’s conclusion that “for countries that have abolished the death penalty, there is an obligation not to expose a person to the real risk of its application”; and

(c) REAFFIRM the Australian Government should, on behalf of all jurisdictions, seek clemency for all Australian citizens under the sentence for death, whether as a result of agencies working on our country’s behalf failing to observe (b) or not.

15 April 2007
Media contact: Kirby Anderson 0418 197 350
kirby.anderson@ministerial.qld.gov.au