Chris Hayes (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

to move—

That the House:

(1)

notes that:

(a)

three young Australians, members of the group colloquially known as the ‘Bali 9’ arrested in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia, remain in the Death Tower at Kerobokan Prison Bali under the sentence of death by firing squad;

(b)

these Australians have not yet taken review proceedings or sought clemency from the Indonesian President to commute their death sentence;

(c)

one of these three is Scott Rush, a drug mule who was only 19 when arrested, is now the only drug mule still facing the death penalty and whose judgement imposing the death sentence contained almost no comparative analysis with other accused persons;

(d)

the right to life is a fundamental human right recognised in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights (1966);

(e)

Australia is also a party to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights aimed at the universal abolition of the death penalty;

(f)

both Australia and Indonesia are signatories to the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights;

(g)

the Australian Parliament passed the Death Penalty Abolition Act 1973 without dissent;

(h)

Article 28 A of the Indonesian Constitution recognises the right to life;

(i)

respect for human life and human dignity are values common to Australia and Indonesia;

(j)

abhorrence of the death penalty is a fundamental value in Australian society and there is bipartisan opposition within the Australian Parliament to the death penalty; and

(k)

the Indonesian Constitutional Court recommended in October 2007 that Indonesian criminal law be amended to include a provision which allows for the death penalty not to be mandatory and for prisoners to earn a commutation of a death sentence by rehabilitation and remorse for their crime;

(2)

believes that abolition of the death penalty contributes to the enhancement of human dignity and progressive development of human rights;

(3)

is convinced that all measures for abolition of the death penalty should be considered as important and essential progress in the enjoyment of the right to life;

(4)

records:

(a)

its opposition to the imposition of the death penalty;

(b)

its abhorrence of all drug related crime;

(c)

the importance of close cooperation between Australian and Indonesian law enforcement agencies in the prevention, detection and prosecution of drug related crime; and

(d)

the importance to Australia of its continuing excellent relationship with our near neighbour, the Republic of Indonesia; and

(5)

requests that:

(a)

the House incorporate into domestic law the contents of the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covent of Civil and Political Rights to ensure the unequivocal abolition of the death penalty in Australia and to communicate Australia’s position on the death penalty to the world at large;

(b)

the Commonwealth advocate clemency for these three Australian citizens, as and whenever appropriate;

(c)

the Indonesian Government favourably consider the Constitutional Court’s second recommendation that Indonesian criminal law be reformed so that there is a sentencing alternative to the mandatory death penalty;

(d)

the President and the people of Indonesia understand Australia’s principled position in relation to the imposition of the death penalty; and

(e)

in the event that remaining legal process fails, the President of Indonesia extend clemency to the three young Australian citizens sentenced to death, in particular, by commuting their sentences to terms of imprisonment.