Australia
Death penalty and prisoners' rights · Archive since 1999
Data card
- Legal status
- Abolitionist
- Executions recorded in 2026
- 0
- Executions recorded in 2025
- 0
- First news item in the archive
- JANUARY 1, 1999 · Australia abolished the death penalty for ordinary...
- News items in the archive
- 297
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
Australia is classified as Abolitionist in the Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026. In 2026 the association recorded 0 executions in the country, against 0 the year before. The archive holds 297 news items on Australia, from 1999 to today.
Latest news
- MARCH 8, 2001AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson said gunman Martin...
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson said gunman Martin Bryant should be a candidate for capital punishment
- FEBRUARY 7, 2001AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
The Queensland branch of the One Nation party will...
The Queensland branch of the One Nation party will call for a referendum on capital punishment if it wins the February 17, 2001 elections
- JANUARY 25, 2001AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
The director of the Australian Institute of Criminology,...
The director of the Australian Institute of Criminology, Dr Adam Graycar, commenting a report on homicide in 2001 Year Book Australia, released by the Bureau of Statistics, said that capital punishment has no effect on the crime rate
- JANUARY 24, 2001AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
Bill Feldman leader of the City Country Alliance, a...
Bill Feldman leader of the City Country Alliance, a political party made up of six former One Nation MPs, has launched its election campaign in the Australian state of Queensland where polls will be held on February 17, with a call for a referendum on the
- JANUARY 1, 2001AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
Australia abolished the death penalty for ordinary...
Australia abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes in 1984 and for wartime crimes in 1985
- JANUARY 1, 2001AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
Queensland, a state where there is a big debate on...
Queensland, a state where there is a big debate on the death penalty, had 18 hangings between 1901-13 and none since
- APRIL 27, 2000AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
A research by Australia SCAN, which has tracked social...
A research by Australia SCAN, which has tracked social attitude and lifestyles for the past five years showed that in 2000 Australians felt private freedoms needed to be balanced with a strict behavioural code
- APRIL 26, 2000AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
Australia cosponsored the resolution on the death penalty...
Australia cosponsored the resolution on the death penalty approved by the UN Commission on Human Rights on April 26 (no
- APRIL 15, 2000AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
Mevlud Fejzullahu, a Kosovar refugee, required to return...
Mevlud Fejzullahu, a Kosovar refugee, required to return home from Australia, leaft in trepidation
- APRIL 13, 2000AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
An Australian Judge, Andrew Bray Cameron Wilson, 63,...
An Australian Judge, Andrew Bray Cameron Wilson, 63, has sentenced two former Samoan cabinet ministers, former Women's Affairs Minister Leafa Vitale, 57, and former Communications Minister Toi Aukuso, 68, to death for the shooting of Public Works Minister
- MARCH 19, 2000AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
An opinion poll by "The Sunday Times" has found a majority...
An opinion poll by "The Sunday Times" has found a majority of Western Australians support the death penalty
- MARCH 18, 2000AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
WA Chief Justice David Malcolm said incarceration was...
WA Chief Justice David Malcolm said incarceration was a serious enough punishment for heinous crimes and he was yet to be convinced of the effectiveness of the death penalty
- MARCH 17, 2000AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
WA Premier Richard Court backed away from calling a...
WA Premier Richard Court backed away from calling a referendum on the death penalty before the next State election and said it would not be an election issue
- MARCH 15, 2000AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
Greenough representative Kevin Minson tabled a petition...
Greenough representative Kevin Minson tabled a petition in the Legislative Assembly calling for a referendum on the death penalty
- FEBRUARY 13, 2000AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
Northern Territory Chief Minister Denis Burke spoke...
Northern Territory Chief Minister Denis Burke spoke out against the death penalty after Western Australia (WA) Premier Richard Court claimed that the death penalty was appropriate in some cases
- JANUARY 27, 2000AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
Australia's Immigration Minister Phillip Ruddock defended...
Australia's Immigration Minister Phillip Ruddock defended the deportation of an Algerian asylum-seeker
- JANUARY 10, 2000AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
Fatemeh Morad-Gholi, an Iranian woman fearing persecution...
Fatemeh Morad-Gholi, an Iranian woman fearing persecution for making pornographic films in her home country, was denied refugee status in Australia
- JANUARY 1, 2000AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
Australia abolished the death penalty for ordinary...
Australia abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes in 1984 and for wartime crimes in 1985
- NOVEMBER 10, 1999AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
On November 10, UN Ambassador Penny Wensley, speaking...
On November 10, UN Ambassador Penny Wensley, speaking on item 116a, question of human rights, at the Third Committe of the General Assembly, singled out two issues on which progress seems halting at best
- JULY 1, 1999AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
In July, the murder of Rockhampton schoolgirl Keyra...
In July, the murder of Rockhampton schoolgirl Keyra Steinhardt was used to highlight the need for the reintroduction of the death penalty
- APRIL 28, 1999AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
Australia was a cosponsor of the resolution on the...
Australia was a cosponsor of the resolution on the death penalty approved by the UN Commission on Human Rights on April 28 (1999/61)
- APRIL 1, 1999AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
In April, Australia and Iraq were involved in an extradition...
In April, Australia and Iraq were involved in an extradition case
- MARCH 1, 1999AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
In March, the House debated a proposal, introduced...
In March, the House debated a proposal, introduced in 1998 by opposition Justice Spokesman Lawrence Springborg and known as "truth in sentencing" in a bid to ensure that serious violent offenders serve 100% of their jail terms
- MARCH 1, 1999AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
In March, Jean Yusuf Chahin, who lives in a modest...
In March, Jean Yusuf Chahin, who lives in a modest suburban home in western Sydney, arrived in Australia two years ago on a holiday visa
- MARCH 1, 1999AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
The same month, the One Nation Party ran a controversial...
The same month, the One Nation Party ran a controversial advertisement, which advocated a referendum on the death penalty, in the last week of the state election campaign
- JANUARY 1, 1999AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
Australia abolished the death penalty for ordinary...
Australia abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes in 1984 and for wartime crimes in 1985
- JANUARY 1, 1999AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
On January 1, One Nation leader Bill Feldman confirmed...
On January 1, One Nation leader Bill Feldman confirmed his party would introduce a Private Member's Bill to force a referendum on capital punishment in Queensland (see 1999 Report)