Well the Australian Government, media and people are not going to be able to stand on this issue with one voice since I think they should bring back the death penalty...
-And the last time I looked at my Australian birth certificate and passport I was an Australian citizen.

So I'm sorry you can just take that fanciful wish and forget it.

Whilst I think that the death penalty should be reintroduced, I believe it should be reserved for the harshest of crimes.
People who prey on the innocent, who commit cold blooded murder on men, women and children without cause.
People that are consistently repeat offenders of child molestation and rape who show blatent disregard for human life.

I'm not sure that people who commit drug offenses - even trafficking of heroin - should face the death penalty.
But lets be honest.. Many people may have died from the heroin that the Bali Nine were importing.
They were happy to put other peoples lives at risk.

But if I am going to be honest, let me be really honest.

The Australian Government itself has the blood of Australian citizens on its hands for indirectly supporting the heroin trade.
By that, I am referring to our partnership with the US government, going into Afghanistan and re-establishing the herion trade there which had been completely stopped under the Taliban and re-established under the protection of coalition forces.
And make no mistake, that heroin has came to our shores and most likely been responsible for the deaths of Australians here at home.

Why should taxpayers end up paying $60,000+ yearly to keep someone alive in prison who showed no respect for human life when they had their freedom?
Should we really be the ones to pay for their mistakes?

Don't worry about trying to be humane with lethal injections.
Firing squad is just fine, and a whole lot cheaper.

And FYI, I don't even care whether it is a deterrent or not.
Again - why should we pay for their mistakes?? - Is a better argument...

Well Hasbeen, here is one man who deplores the likely execution of the Bali Nine pair and who believes that the taking of human life under any circumstances is a crime. When authorities resort to judicial murder they render themselves no better than their victims. If your view of the "Real Australia" is correct (and I very much doubt that), then give me an inner city apartment any day. Runner, I agree the question of the death penalty as a deterrent can be debated, but I have not come across a single instance of where the introduction of the death penalty has led to a fall in the rate of the crime for which it was introduced. The US has the death penalty for murder in some States and yet murders per head of population remain higher than Australia and the UK, which do not. China has the death penalty for extreme cases of corruption, yet corruption continues to be rife at almost all levels of China's society. I would suggest the death penalty's deterrent value is so insignificant as to be meaningless, while forever denying the possibility of rehabilitation (which should be the aim of all punishment) and worse still, raising the prospect of an innocent person receiving a penalty for which there can never be redress.

Xavier Symonds presumes to use the word "we" in his claim that we Australians do not support the death penalty.

I would be very happy to have a referendum on the subject but I doubt if the anti death penalty advocates would want that, because they know that they would probably lose. The death penalty in the USA is so popular with the electorate that politicians supporting the death penalty can be assured of a majority of votes.

But democracy in Australia only goes so far. When the leadership of both of our tweedledee/tweedledum Lib/Lab parties decide that they do not want the death penalty, they just get together and make sure that the issue is never put to a vote. Then people like Xavier Symonds can pretend that they are speaking for all Australians, when they know damn well we have never been allowed to express our opinion through the ballot box.

Not content to undemocratically prevent the death penalty in Australia. Xavier wants to wag his finger at the 100 or so countries in the world who are sensible enough to have a death penalty. One wonders what Xavier and his chardonnay sucking friends would do if Muslims throughout the world demanded that Xavier and his mates stop drinking wine? He would probably be outraged that somebody from another country and culture should have the effrontery to tell Xavier what to do.

Well Xavier, that works both ways. This is a guy who really does think that his moral position is absolute. He would make a great Muslim. They think that way too about alcohol, bikinis and free speech, Xavier.

Give us a plebiscite, Xavier, and I will accept whatever is the result. To paraphrase the American patriots of Boston, "No anti execution without representation!"

Does anyone know how many innocent people have been murdered by repeat offenders and is this number greater or lesser than the number of innocent people put to death?

I agree with LEGO that a referendum on the death penalty even held now would be a close-run thing. But in the end the death penalty was abolished in Australia, the European Union and elsewhere, not because it was the popular thing to do, but because it was right.

I'm not a fan of the death penalty, it's difficult to undo but I do disagree with the authors take on this. A couple of points that stuck out

"No one is debating its morality any more." and yet my impression is that that most polls indicate majority support for the death penalty for some crimes.

The issues with poor chemical mixes used in some US executions have been horrible but the blame for that lies in my view primarily with those who have worked to disrupt access to the more proven mixes. I've also read the detail of the horrors inflicted on their victims by a couple of those who have had difficult executions and my heart fails to bleed for the short and relatively mild suffering they endured. If those opposed to the death penalty really cared about the suffering of those being executed they would stop their campaigns to hinder access to the materials used in the execution and work exclusively at changing the laws.

Two Australians and a number of others are likely to face a firing squad in the near future. Those went to a country with a known death penalty for the crimes they intended to commit.

In the mean time a number of Australians will die due to not being able to afford medication they need, others will take their own lives sometimes in part due to external pressures they have not been able to cope with. Others may die as victims of drink drivers, truck drivers pushed to hard to meet deadlines etc. Will the media and pollies hold vigils and risk relationships to change any of that?

R0bert