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
- NOVEMBER 9, 2008AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIA TO SEEK UN RESOLUTION AGAINST EXECUTIONS
Australia will press for an international moratorium on capital punishment following the execution of the Bali
- OCTOBER 30, 2008AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
Kevin Rudd reaffirmed Australia's opposition to the death penalty as the Bali bombers await execution
Kevin Rudd reaffirmed Australia's opposition to the death penalty as the Bali bombers await execution
- OCTOBER 21, 2008AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIA: MPs 'NOT DIVIDED ON DEATH PENALTY'
federal MPs on both sides of politics oppose the death penalty, says Australian Labor backbencher Craig Thomson, amid reports of concerns that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has failed to articulate a consistent position on the issue
- OCTOBER 13, 2008AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
VIETNAM: TWO DEATH-ROW AUSTRALIANS GRANTED CLEMENCY BY HANOI
two Vietnamese-Australians facing the firing squad in Vietnam after being convicted of drug charges were granted clemency.
- OCTOBER 3, 2008AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIA. DEATH PENALTY STAND LIMITED TO OUR OWN
Australia will not help people facing the death penalty other than its own citizens, Attorney-General Robert McClelland said.
- JULY 17, 2008AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIA: DEATH PENALTY BARBARIC: VICTIM'S FATHER
in Australia, a former Adelaide magistrate who lost a son in the 2002 Bali bombings says the death penalty facing his son's killers is a deplorable, barbaric act that should never happen. Indonesia's Supreme Court dismissed the final legal challenge by th
- JULY 2, 2008AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
Australia urged Vietnam to spare two Australians...
Australia urged Vietnam to spare two Australians...
- MAY 27, 2008AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIA: MAN EXECUTED FOR MURDER 90 YEARS AGO PARDONED
the Victorian State Government in Australia created legal history when it announced a posthumous pardon for a man wrongly executed 86 years ago in the notorious Gun Alley murder case
- APRIL 24, 2008ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. EXTRADITION TREATIES WITH AUSTRALIA, FRANCE SET
China's top legislature approved extradition treaties with Australia and France. The treaty
- MARCH 18, 2008AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
VIETNAM. AUSTRALIAN WOMAN FACES FIRING SQUAD
an Australian woman of Vietnamese origin lost her court appeal and will face a
- MARCH 5, 2008AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
INDONESIA. DEATH PENALTY LIFTED FOR 3 AUSTRALIANS
three Australians in jail in Indonesia, members of the so-called ‘Bali Nine’
- JANUARY 5, 2008AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
CHURCH URGES AUSTRALIAN GOVT TO OPPOSE DEATH PENALTY
the Catholic Church is stepping up its pressure on the Australian federal government to ensure that it maintain consistency in opposing the use of the death penalty, regardless of who is being executed.
- JANUARY 1, 2008AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
The death penalty was formally abolished in Australia in 1985.
The death penalty was formally abolished in Australia in 1985.
- DECEMBER 18, 2007AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
Australia voted in favour of the Resolution on a Moratorium...
Australia voted in favour of the Resolution on a Moratorium...
- NOVEMBER 21, 2007AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
VIETNAM UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCE FOR AUSTRALIAN
the People's Court of Appeals in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, reaffirmed the death sentence for Tony Manh, 40, after hearing no new evidence for a reduction in his sentence, a court official told the Associated Press.
- OCTOBER 30, 2007AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
INDONESIAN COURT UPHOLDS DEATH PENALTY FOR DRUG OFFENCES
the Constitutional Court of Indonesia upheld the death penalty for serious drug offences for three Australians facing execution for trying to smuggle heroin off the resort island of Bali.
- OCTOBER 22, 2007AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIANS REJECT DEATH PENALTY FOR MURDER CASES
two-thirds of people in Australia believe people convicted of murder should not
- OCTOBER 10, 2007AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIAN PM STANDS BY BALI BOMBER DEATH PENALTY
the Australian prime minister, John Howard...
- OCTOBER 8, 2007AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIA: LABOR CAMPAIGNS AGAINST DEATH PENALTY FOR BALI BOMBERS
the Australian Labor Party attacked Prime Minister John Howard for supporting the death penalty for the Bali bombers as it launched a campaign to stop all executions in Asia.
- SEPTEMBER 18, 2007AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
VIETNAM: AUSTRALIAN SENTENCED TO DEATH IN VIETNAM
a Vietnamese court handed the death penalty to an Australian man it found guilty of trafficking almost one kilogram of heroin.
- JANUARY 1, 2007AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
The death penalty was formally abolished in Australia in 1985.
The death penalty was formally abolished in Australia in 1985.
- NOVEMBER 17, 2006AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
VIETNAM. AUSTRALIAN CONVICTED OF SMUGGLING SPARED DEATH PENALTY
Trinh Huu, an Australian national convicted of drug smuggling, was spared death by firing squad when the Vietnamese government granted him clemency.
- NOVEMBER 6, 2006AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIA WELCOMES SADDAM HUSSEIN'S DEATH SENTENCE
Australia welcomed a death sentence meted out to former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, saying that it is a sign of democratic hope for Iraq.
- OCTOBER 26, 2006AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIA. ABORIGINAL CHILD KILLER JAILED AFTER COURT REJECTS TRIBAL DEATH PENALTY
Terrence Dann, an Aboriginal man, was sentenced to life in prison for hanging his two young stepchildren after a court refused his plea to return home and face a tribal death penalty.
- SEPTEMBER 29, 2006AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
UNITED STATES. AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL HICKS WILL NOT BE EXECUTED, BUT NO TIME FRAME ON HIS TRIAL
it was reported that the US government had given assurances to Australia’s Attorney-General Philip Ruddock that David Hicks would not face the death penalty, but the US had still given no timeframe on when his trial was due.
- SEPTEMBER 7, 2006AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIA ANGERED BY BALI DRUG DEATH SENTENCES
an Indonesian court decision to sentence four young Australians to death for heroin smuggling, overturning their earlier jail terms, sparked an angry political reaction in Australia.
- SEPTEMBER 7, 2006AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
INDONESIA. DEATH SENTENCE FOR BALI 9 DEFENDANT A FIRST, LAWYER
there was no legal precedent for the death sentence imposed on Australian drug smuggler Scott Rush...
- SEPTEMBER 6, 2006AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
INDONESIA. DEATH SENTENCE FOR FOUR OF ‘BALI NINE’
Indonesia's Supreme Court has increased the sentences for four Australians convicted of drug smuggling in Bali to the death penalty, officials said.
- AUGUST 26, 2006AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIA. NO DEATH PENALTY FOR GUANTANAMO INMATE
Australia has received assurances the United States will not seek the death penalty for Australian Guantanamo Bay inmate David Hicks if it brings new charges against him, Australian Attorney General Philip Ruddock.
- JULY 11, 2006AustraliaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIA. PRESS ASIA TO END DEATH PENALTY, LABOUR PARTY
Australia's Labor party demanded Australia press regional nations to abolish the death penalty, as three Bali bombers and two Australian drug smugglers sat on death row in Asia.