In The News - July

The Australian Government has made a big step towards ensuring that capital punishment cannot ever exist again in Australia. This is a strong message in support of global abolition and of course greatly in support of our Australians still on death row overseas.

The legislation will draw on the Commonwealth Government's external affairs power in s. 51(xxix) of the constitution. This power, it is argued, can interpreted to allow the Government to act upon international treaties, and therefore legislate on behalf of the states. The international treaty in question is the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR, of which we are signatories. We have also co-sponsored a resolution for a moratorium on the death penalty.

Even though it's merely a consolidation of the status quo in Australia, it's an important step in the right direction both at home and abroad. The Human Rights Committee observed that "all steps taken to abolish the death penalty must be viewed as progress towards the enjoyment of the right to life." This is no doubt the case by closing the door completely on the death penalty.

Andrew Chan, Myuran Sukumaran and Scott Rush are still on death row in Indonesia, and so any unified approach against the death penalty will not fall on deaf ears with our closest neighbours. What more powerful message to send than a complete and irrevocable refusal to ever allow the return of the death penalty.

The legislation is expected to be past in spring. For the sake of Australians abroad I hope that not too much political debate is raised by the Opposition, because only a bipartisan approach will send a strong enough message to perhaps save lives.