However these anomalies were swept away with the passing of the Crimes (Death Penalty Abolition) Amendment Act, 1985. Under Commonwealth law, the death penalty was abolished in 1973 by s.4 of the Death Penalty Abolition Act, 1973.( Australian Institute of Criminology report in crime and criminal justice 1993).
Although Australia has abandoned capital punishment, it does not follow that it could never be reintroduced. Nor does it mean that it cannot be imposed on Australians traveling overseas, as illustrated by the double execution of Barlow and Chambers who were hanged in Malaysia on 7 July 1986 for drug trafficking.( Rehav, Giroa (1989), 'Homicide and Death Penalty: A Cross-sectional Time Series Analysis', International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice, Spring, 7,1, 61-71.) Whenever a particularly vicious crime is committed, members of the public, police, politicians and the press reopen' the debate on the death penalty. On 16 February 2003 the Australian PM said in a Sunday morning television interview that the Bali bombers "should be dealt with in accordance with Indonesian law. and if [the death penalty] is what the law of Indonesia provides, well, that is how things should proceed. There won't be any protest from Australia". £ SBS NEWS REVIEWS 2003These comments mark a significant change in Australia's attitude to the capital punishment. .
Over recent years, a number of opinion polls have been carried out to determine the public's attitude to capital punishment. A phone-in poll conducted in January 1986 by a Sydney TV station shortly after a particularly gruesome sex-murder received over 48 000 calls. On this occasion 95 per cent of the respondents were in favor of the reintroduction of capital punishment. (Ivan Potas and John walker, Australian Institute of Criminology 1993) A national survey was commissioned in May, 1986 by the Australian Institute of Criminology and involved 2551 respondents over the age of 14 years.
