MPI Speech on the Death Penalty

On 30 November 2005, an impressive cross-section of Australians gathered on the lawns in front of Parliament House to call for leniency for convicted drug smuggler Van Nguyen, not because any of us there sympathised with his crime but because we were and remain genuinely opposed to the death sentence. It was particularly moving to hear the speech of Brian Deegan, whose son died in the Sari Club blast. He repeated his earlier eloquent opposition to the death penalty, including for Amrozi, who has been convicted for his involvement in that terrible massacre. It is by that standard that those who claim to be opposed to the death penalty should be judged.