Bali Nine - Criminal Proceedings - Reactions in Australia

Reactions in Australia

Parents of defendants Scott Rush and Renae Lawrence criticised the Australian Federal Police for allowing the Indonesian police to arrest the nine, rather than allowing them to fly to Australia and arresting them in Sydney upon their return.

On 24 April 2005, Keelty said the AFP would hand over all evidence they had obtained against the Bali Nine:

"The policy is that we will not give evidence that will, or information that will, directly cause or result in somebody receiving the death penalty, but the reality is in this case, it would appear, on the allegation, that these people have been caught red-handed with heroin in Indonesia."

Lawrence's father, Bob Lawrence, said in October 2005 he wanted to meet AFP Commissioner Mick Keelty face to face after learning of the comments made by Lee Rush:

"As far as I'm concerned, and excuse the expression, is an arsehole. These kids were forced into this … they should have been either arrested at the airport here or followed to get the big guys. I don't know how they can sleep at night … even if were guilty of doing it willingly, it still doesn't deserve the death penalty."

During February 2006, Rush's parents gave an interview to Australian Broadcasting Commission television program Australian Story, speaking out against Australian Federal Police actions. Rush's father Lee Rush was quoted as saying:

"I was informed at 1.30 in the morning that Scott would be spoken to and asked not to board the flight to Bali. It wasn't until about mid-morning that I received a call from Bob (Rush's lawyer) and a distressed tone in his voice he said "Mate, we could not stop him, they have let him go through and he's on his way to Bali'. Under no circumstances do I condone the trafficking of drugs - I particularly dislike drugs of any nature, always have. When I received a call from the Australian Government authorities that Scott had been detained in Indonesia for attempting to export heroin, I was speechless, sickened to the gut."

Rush's mother, Christine Rush, spoke of her disappointment with the Australian Federal Police:

"I feel very let down by our Australian Federal Police – we tried to lawfully stop our son leaving the country, it wasn't done." "The Federal Police can do, go wherever they want, do anything, anytime without supervision from the Australian Attorney-General or from the Justice Minister." "This is not good for Australians and our laws need to be changed to protect our citizens and this must not happen to any Australian citizen again."

In an interview aired on the same episode of Australian Story, Mike Phelan, of the Australian Federal Police, respondeding to the Rush family's criticisms said:

"Even with the aid of hindsight, should the same set of circumstances present themselves again with another syndicate or other people, we would do exactly the same thing", and that "there have also been a large number of young lives on the other side of the ledger that have been saved as a result of the AFP's operations over many years."

Keelty went on to state that "if someone went back to Lee Rush and assured him that Scott would not be able to travel then that is their call," he said.

"We would never have given any assurance, because there was no lawful reason to prevent him from travelling. My sympathy is with Lee Rush because somebody has misled him. Whoever gave Lee Rush the assurance that his son would be prevented from travelling acted dishonourably. There is no way anyone in the AFP would have provided that assurance because there was simply no power to detain him. He was not wanted on warrants, there were no conditions of his bail that prevented him from travelling overseas."

Federal Justice Minister, Senator Chris Ellison, defended the AFP's actions:

"What we have are serious allegations as to criminal activity which allegedly occurred on Indonesian soil and the Indonesian police acted accordingly. We would expect the same of Australian police if the situation was reversed."

Australian Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, said that Australia was opposed to the use of the death penalty and would request clemency for the nine if they were convicted.

Philip Ruddock was quoted as saying:

"We will not provide co-operation in relation to criminal matters unless there is an assurance that a death penalty will not be sought. If there was further information that had to be obtained from here through the Australian Federal Police, we would seek an assurance that Indonesia would not be wanting a death penalty in each of those cases."

Scott Rush, Renae Lawrence, Martin Stephens and Michael Czugaj initiated legal proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia against the Australian Federal Police, arguing they had acted illegally by tipping off Indonesian police with information leading to the arrests in Bali and knowingly exposing them to the death penalty. Federal Court judges dismissed the claims in January 2006. In March 2006, Martine Griffiths of Network Ten was awarded Melbourne Press Club's 2005 Gold Quill Award for her coverage of the arrests of the Bali Nine.