kate2006

Labor to fight death penalty
Date: October 9 2007

Phillip Coorey Chief Political Correspondent

A FEDERAL Labor government would oppose the death penalty for the likes of the Bali bombers, Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein as part of a broader regional strategy to end capital punishment in Asia.
The Opposition foreign affairs spokesman, Robert McClelland, said last night Labor would establish a coalition with five Asian nations that have abolished the death penalty to persuade 15 other countries in the region, including China, to do the same.
Mr McClelland said the strategy would succeed only if the Government, which opposes the death penalty at home and for Australians abroad, also opposed it for foreign terrorists and tyrants, no matter how hideous their crimes.
"At the highest levels, Australia's public comments about the death penalty must be consistent with policy," he told a Labor human rights forum in the Sydney seat of Wentworth. "This is especially the case if we are going to tactfully and successfully drive a regional abolitionist movement."
The timing of his comments was controversial given that Friday marks the anniversary of the October 12, 2002, Bali bombings which killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.
Research by the Australian National University found that after the 2004 election 51 per cent of voters supported the reintroduction of the death penalty in Australia.
The Prime Minister, John Howard, opposes the death penalty but supports it for bin Laden, the al-Qaeda mastermind who is still at large, Saddam, the former Iraqi dictator who was hanged in December, and the Bali bomber Amrosi, one of three perpetrators on death row in Indonesia.
Mr McClelland said Mr Howard's inconsistency in these specific cases exposed Australia to claims of hypocrisy and undermined diplomatic efforts to spare the life of Nguyen Tuong Van, the convicted Australian drug trafficker who was hanged in Singapore in 2005....
http://www.smh.com.au/text/articles 2007/10/08/1191695822424.html

possum

Hear, hear... consistency is the key...

I can't stomach Howard's "kill the Bali bombers, ignore the Bali 9 stance" makes me feel physically ill.

Someone's gotta grow some balls and be stronger on the issue to bring all Australians into line on the Capital Punishment issue.

We don't execute here so we should definitely be against execution everywhere else... regardless who it's for.

kate2006

I agree Possum - it’s like pretending you are only a little bit pregnant. Either you are for the death penalty, or against it, and Australia is officially against it, in case the PM has forgotten.

I think someone is betting on who will give him the most votes if he is seen to be walking the walk. I keep thinking of that promise to govern for all of us...

admin

yeah but i heard rudd say yesterday he wasnt opposed to the death penalty for the bombers?

im getting mixed signals....

kate2006

yeah but i heard rudd say yesterday he wasnt opposed to the death penalty for the bombers?

im getting mixed signals....

I think he was - until he had to say so publicly

As for the mixed signals - all I hear is static {G} .

Unregistered

wow are you stupid or just too preoccupied at the moment to properly formulate your thoughts? of course you can be for the death penalty in certain situations and against it in others. just like a life sentence. by your reasoning, everybody who commits a crime should be given a life sentence, not some people in certain situations, otherwise it's like being a little pregnant; you're either for or against it right? and i'm assuming you believe someone like osama bin laden should receive a life sentence.

people on here are truly dense.

kate2006

How, if someone holds a different opinion to you, does that make them dense?

You can’t argue against closed minds but, if you read enough posts you will find that the majority of people here are against the death penalty - full stop.

Killing people judicially , no matter what the reason, is a slippery slope - there is no going back, and IMO puts us on the same level as those who murder because they can,or because they want to.

For what it’s worth I think that people like Osama bin Laden, if he is ever brought to justice, would much prefer the death penalty to being locked up by the people he most hates, and fears, which would make the punishment much more suitable.

possum

so that makes you dense too then...

you know where the door is...