T

he impending execution of two young Australian men in Indonesia has again given great pause for reflection on the issue of capital punishment.

It was 48 years ago next month that the last execution was carried out in Australia '€” the hanging of Ronald Ryan at Pentridge Gaol in Melbourne. I was a witness to that execution.

It was the most violent and futile act I have ever witnessed. The memory haunts me to this day '€” that I saw a man deliberately killed in the name of the law. It achieved nothing then and nothing since. To see a man helplessly bound, led to the gallows and deliberately put to death is something that no society should countenance.

I walked into Pentridge that day as a working journalist with no clear views on capital punishment. The execution was the biggest story of the year and I had a job to do in reporting it.

I walked out of Pentridge resolved to work in whatever way I could to try to have capital punishment abolished, and that work continues today.

Over the past 48 years I have watched how the issue of capital punishment has been handled in countries around the world '€” studies I have done not as a journalist or anyone with a vested interest, but simply as an interested member of the public.

I reflect with sadness on having seen a deliberate death and realizing how useless an act it was.

I have watched the debate on capital punishment and nothing changes '€” the same old argument is run time and time again that capital punishment is a deterrent, yet absolutely nothing is ever achieved by executions.

It is of great importance to note that more and more countries are abolishing the death penalty, realizing it is useless and has no place in their society. In the past, capital punishment was used in almost every part of the world, but in the last few decades many countries have done away with it.

There is no question that committing serious crime deserves serious punishment. However, many societies today say capital punishment is not part of that equation. They say the death penalty is wrong. And it is wrong.

The alternative punishment must be strong. The alternative to the death penalty for serious crimes should be long imprisonment. For murder and other major crimes it should be life imprisonment. No parole. No dispensations.

In the case of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran in Indonesia, surely the most appropriate sentence could be long imprisonment, as it was for the other members of the '€œBali Nine'€.

Their rehabilitation and everything they'€™ve done to make amends for their actions has to count for something.

For almost ten years, the Indonesian system has kept them alive, allowing them to demonstrate their remorse and contrition, through actions as well as words.

To execute them now would be an absolute tragedy and a waste of two young lives that have been completely turned around.

Australia in 1973 abolished the death penalty for federal offences. It was removed as a punishment for murder in all States by 1984 and then in 2010 Federal Parliament passed laws that prevent the death penalty from being reintroduced by any state or territory in Australia.

I would hope that Australia could take this strong stance into a commitment to argue against the death penalty in every country of the world.

We put a very strong case to the international community on fighting terrorism and are prepared to lead discussion and action on that front. We are remarkably reticent on the world stage when it comes to capital punishment. It is time to end that.