KILLING THE DEATH PENALTY

A controversial but important question:  Should the death penalty be reinstated in Australia for certain crimes? I believe that if such a question were put at a referendum it would pass by a vote of about 70% to 30.  But it will never be put. And I raise it again today because the federal government is making moves to ban capital punishment in this country forever.

Technically, the death penalty is a state issue. The last person executed in Australia was Ronald Ryan in Melbourne in 1966 – more than forty years ago.

But if a state tried to bring back the death penalty and execute creatures like Martin Bryant and Julian Knight and the killers of Anita Cobby the Federal Government would intervene.

That’s what the Rudd Government is trying to do now. The Federal Attorney-General has written to his state and territory counterparts telling him what the government intends to do.

Robert McClelland has told them the Government will introduce new legislation to ban the death penalty nationwide. They will invoke the external affairs power in the Constitution. The same one used to block the damming of the Franklin River in Tasmania.

But in the debate ahead you will hear a lot of hypocrisy from death penalty opponents. And that includes all Labor premiers. And it included the former Howard Government.

It was obvious during the final days of the Bali bombers. At the time I said good riddance. It can’t come quickly enough. They lost their rights to mercy and even a skerrick of sympathy when they set those bombs that killed more than 200 innocent people.

But when you tried to get either Prime Minister Rudd or Premier Brumby to say they should be spared you were met with silence.

In opposition Rudd said as Prime Minister he would fight to save the lives of Australians on Death Row overseas. But he wouldn’t intervene over convicted terrorists.

Back then  McClelland was shadow Foreign Affairs Minister. He was honest and said that under a Rudd Government Australia would oppose the death penalty in all circumstances. Even for killers like Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden.

His speech was cleared by Kevin Rudd but he was then abandoned when the Labor pollsters realised it was not a good look so close to the fifth anniversary of the Bali bombings. Rudd rebuked his Shadow Minister and described his comments as’ highly insensitive’.

And if you argue that you didn’t oppose the execution of the Bali bombers out of respect for the victims’ families then what about the families of those slaughtered by Julian Knight and Martin Bryant?

I believe the death penalty should be available for certain crimes. And when there is no doubt, not just beyond reasonable doubt, no doubt about a killer’s guilt.

A person who abducts, rapes and murders a child should face the death penalty.  A person who kidnaps, rapes and murders a woman. A person who kills a witness to protect his own identity, a cop killer, a serial killer. A Knight or a Bryant. 

They have forfeited the right to remain in this world. Even behind bars.

And when prime ministers and premiers say the opposition is bi-partisan and that they speak for the majority… well count me out. On this issue they don’t speak for me.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

© Copyright Derryn Hinch 2009