In suggesting that our current crop of leaders should take their cues from Ms. Clark, Father Brennan said we cannot hide behind the cop out line that it is not our place to intervene in other countries' domestic processes.
He optimistically tracked the development at the United Nations of a slowly increasing majority in favour of a resolution calling for a moratorium on the death penalty each year since December, 2007.
It is important, said Father Brennan, that Australians continue to press for a constant, unchanging position on capital punishment and that we encourage other countries to join the movement in the right direction.
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Lee and Christine Rush spoke of their abiding support for their son throughout his ordeal. Lee and Christine gave a compelling insight into life on death row and the anguish of the families of those who languish there.
According to Amnesty International, 21 countries recorded executions in 2011 compared to the 31 countries that did so ten years ago. An encouraging trend despite the obviously distressing truth that one execution is one too many.
Father Brennan related a story of how a minority judgment of a US Supreme Court judge against the death penalty some decades ago came to be used half a world away by the constitutional court in South Africa to abolish the death penalty. There is always point in standing up for principle.
As father Brennan pointed out, justice must not kill. It is time to abolish the death penalty so we can co-operate more effectively, internationally, in combating terrorism and the drug trade, without forfeiting the principles we hold dear.
It's time to abolish the death penalty so that we can affirm the value of all human life: so that we can prescribe the moral limits to the State's dominion over the human person.
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About the Authors
Thomas Serafin is a Queensland Committee Member of the Australian Lawyers for Human Rights. He is presently studying a Bachelor of Laws and Journalism at Queensland University of Technology. He has had extensive experience in rights-based organisations volunteering at ATSILS, Caxton Legal Centre and QPILCH Homeless Persons’ Legal Clinic amongst others.
In Thomas's spare time, he enjoys writing, practicing Jujitsu and engaging in political and philosophical discourse.
Benedict Coyne is a National Committee Member and Queensland Convenor of Australian Lawyers for Human Rights (ALHR). He completed a graduate law degree at Southern Cross University graduating with first class Honours and the University Medal amongst other awards.
He had an incredibly interesting year in 2011 as Associate to the Hon Justice Bromberg at the Federal Court of Australia in Melbourne, including hearing (and substantially researching) the Eatock v Bolt case. He was admitted to practise in Victoria in November 2011 and is currently a lawyer in the new major projects and class actions department of Maurice Blackburn Lawyers in Brisbane.
He enjoys writing and performing poetry in his spare time.
Stephen Keim has been a legal practitioner for 30 years, the last 23 of which have been as a barrister. He became a Senior Counsel for the State of Queensland in 2004. Stephen is book reviews editor for the Queensland Bar Association emagazine Hearsay. Stephen is President of Australian Lawyers for Human Rights and is also Chair of QPIX, a non-profit film production company that develops the skills of emerging film makers for their place in industry.
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