Skip to content
The Catholic Leader
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
The Catholic Leader
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Battling the death penalty

byStaff writers
7 June 2009
Reading Time: 4 mins read
AA

Fr Tim Harris with Lee and Christine Rush, holding a picture of Scott Rush.

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Fr Tim Harris with Lee and Christine Rush, holding a picture of Scott Rush.
Fr Tim Harris with Lee and Christine Rush, holding a picture of Scott Rush.

CONVICTED drug courier Scott Rush’s parents’ struggle to save their son from death row is broadening public awareness of and opposition to capital punishment.

Lee and Christine Rush’s contacts with everyone from law society representatives to inter-faith gatherings have put a human face to the issue in the four years since son Scott, now 23, was arrested en route to Australia in April, 2005, for attempting to smuggle 1.3kg of heroin through Bali’s Denpasar airport.

Janet Neville, who is chief executive officer of LAWASIA, an association of peak legal bodies for 26 Asian Pacific countries, spoke of a “very moving” recent meeting she and Queensland Law Society (QLS) international relations section chair Russell Thurgood had with the couple.

“The Rushes’ statement was so powerful, it will soon be included in the QLS publication Proctor, and LAWASIA intends to publish it as well,” Ms Neville said.

Scott’s former parish priest Fr Tim Harris of Corinda-Graceville told The Catholic Leader Lee had spoken in April at Griffith University’s Multi-Faith Centre inter-faith dialogue on the death penalty.

“Lee asked those present – who were from various faiths – what the attitude of their particular faith to the death penalty was and it was very clear that many were moved and challenged by his question,” Fr Harris said.

Lee Rush said both he and his wife had “strongly opposed” capital punishment prior to their son’s arrest.

“We never believed in the death penalty,” he said.

“For a start neither of us believes it acts as a deterrent to criminal behaviour.
“Christine, who grew up in the Mitchell area, always remembered that the locality was connected to the last of Australia’s bushrangers, the Kenniff brothers, one of whom was hung in 1903 at Bogga Road.

“Queensland was also the first Australian state to end capital punishment in 1922.

Related Stories

Gwen has given 15,000 hours of cuddles to sick and premature babies

Helping stroke survivors earns Ozcare volunteer national recognition

Br Alan Moss remembered for a life of faith and learning

“In my case, I always vividly remembered the details of Ronald Ryan’s execution in 1967 and later cases like that of Chambers and Barlow.

“And of course there was the tragic hanging of Van Nguyen in Singapore in 2005.”

The couple’s opposition moved into a more active phase when, as Lee puts it, “the topic landed on our doorstep when Scott finished up on death row in Bali’s Kerobokan prison”.

He was arrested with eight other Australians including Michael Czugaj, another former Corinda-Graceville parishioner.

Scott was a student at Christ the King Primary School, Graceville, and Michael was at St Joseph’s, Corinda.

Both received a life sentence for their crimes.

Scott’s Indonesian team appealed his sentence two-and-a-half years ago but his life sentence was then changed to one of death.

Ever since then, Lee and Christine’s campaign against the death penalty has been very much a public affair, very tough for a couple involved for many years in community projects.

Apart from speaking at such venues as the inter-faith gathering, Lee has for the past two years addressed the Good Friday Vigil at Graceville’s Christ the King Church.

As members of Aussies Against Capital Punishment they hand out anti-capital punishment literature in places such as Anzac Square, the West End markets and around the Treasury Casino.

“It’s a lot different though than preaching to the converted,” Lee said.

“For example, a fellow in his 60s came up and said if it was his son who’d been caught with drugs, he’d pull the trigger himself.

“However, people supporting the death penalty often change when they realise that we’re Scott’s parents.”

Ms Neville said it was this ability of the Rushes to put a “human face” to the issue which was changing people’s attitudes to capital punishment, including those in the legal community.

“There has been a tendency in the past for the legal community to put the debate on capital punishment in the too-hard basket,” she said.

“It’s been seen as a political issue to be dealt with by those countries where capital punishment is legal.

The attitude has been to not pass comment … but the mood is changing.
“It’s definitely being helped by people like the Rushes who are putting a human face to the issue.

“The legal fraternity is starting to see capital punishment as a moral and human rights issue which is a big change.”

Ms Neville said she was filled with admiration for the Rushes’ campaign against the death penalty.

“One of the things I admire about the Rushes is their focus on the big picture of the horror of the death penalty.

“It’s not just about their own problem – they could have just got stuck there, but now it’s happened they are taking time to talk to other people with an aim to changing their opinions.

“I’ve heard Lee speak in public and he does an amazing job given that he had no prior experience and was only drawn into all this by the circumstances of his son’s arrest.”

Ms Neville said the message she would like to convey to Lee and Christine Rush is “that their activities are bringing to light to a lot of influential people the horror of capital punishment and incarceration overseas”.

“LAWASIA got a strong motion carried against capital punishment at a meeting at end of October last year, though sadly Indonesia was one of countries missing from meeting,” Ms Neville said.

“And now the Rushes are helping to build an impetus against capital punishment.

“The work they are doing is definitely heightening the sensitivity of others to the issue.

“Even their brief meeting with LAWASIA and QLS, which was also part of a teleconference, will have an enormous impact.

“They are actually bringing something good out of their own heartbreaking story.”

ShareTweet
Previous Post

Woodridge youth get active

Next Post

Former St Mary’s priest suspended

Staff writers

Related Posts

Gwen has given 15,000 hours of cuddles to sick and premature babies
QLD

Gwen has given 15,000 hours of cuddles to sick and premature babies

20 May 2022
Helping stroke survivors earns Ozcare volunteer national recognition
QLD

Helping stroke survivors earns Ozcare volunteer national recognition

20 May 2022
Br Alan Moss remembered for a life of faith and learning
QLD

Br Alan Moss remembered for a life of faith and learning

19 May 2022
Next Post

Former St Mary's priest suspended

Historic day for Good Samaritans

Catholics honoured

Popular News

  • Pregnant woman

    Queensland election: The pro-life political parties committed to abortion law reforms

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Here are the stories of 10 new saints being canonised this Sunday

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Br Alan Moss remembered for a life of faith and learning

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Parishes unite for Logan deanery family festival this Sunday

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Nationwide rosary event happening for Australia’s patroness this Saturday

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
Search our job finder
No Result
View All Result

Latest News

Gwen has given 15,000 hours of cuddles to sick and premature babies
QLD

Gwen has given 15,000 hours of cuddles to sick and premature babies

by Joe Higgins
20 May 2022
0

BRISBANE grandmother Gwendoline Grant has clocked up 15,000 hours cuddling and caring for sick and premature babies...

Helping stroke survivors earns Ozcare volunteer national recognition

Helping stroke survivors earns Ozcare volunteer national recognition

20 May 2022
Br Alan Moss remembered for a life of faith and learning

Br Alan Moss remembered for a life of faith and learning

19 May 2022
Catholic relationship advisers offer five tips to look after your mental health

Nationwide rosary event happening for Australia’s patroness this Saturday

19 May 2022
Francis offers advice on politics: Seek unity, don’t get lost in conflict

Francis offers advice on politics: Seek unity, don’t get lost in conflict

19 May 2022

Never miss a story. Sign up to the Weekly Round-Up
eNewsletter now to receive headlines directly in your email.

Sign up to eNews
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Jobs
  • Subscribe

The Catholic Leader is an Australian award-winning Catholic newspaper that has been published by the Archdiocese of Brisbane since 1929. Our journalism seeks to provide a full, accurate and balanced Catholic perspective of local, national and international news while upholding the dignity of the human person.

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader
Accessibility Information | Privacy Policy | Archdiocese of Brisbane

The Catholic Leader acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the First Peoples of this country and especially acknowledge the traditional owners on whose lands we live and work throughout the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader

0
    0
    Your Cart
    Your cart is emptyChoose another Subscription
    Continue Shopping