Australians reject the death penalty and support gay marriage |
|
Tuesday, 1 July 2008 |
NSWCCL media release: 3/2008
|
| |
| |
The NSW Council for Civil Liberties (CCL) welcomes a survey that shows that more Australians than ever reject the death penalty. The same survey shows that more Australians support same-sex marriage, then oppose it.
The Australian Election Study 2007 is the eighth in a longitudinal series of surveys of the social attitudes of Australians. The surveys have been conducted at federal elections from 1987 through to 2007.“This survey shows that more Australians than ever oppose the death penalty. In 2004, more than 51% of Australians thought the death penalty should be reintroduced. In 2007, that figure dropped to 44%,” said Mr Cameron Murphy, President of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties.
“The Australian government should be encouraged by these statistics and move to ensure that the States cannot reintroduce capital punishment. The government should adopt into domestic law the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR”, Mr Murphy said. The survey set of 1,833 people were asked whether the death penalty should be re-introduced for murder. In 2007, 43.6% of people thought it should, which is down 7.5% since the same question was asked in 2004. While 38.4% of people said it should not be reintroduced, up 5.7% from 2004. The number of ‘undecideds’ was up 1.7% to 17.9% in 2007.
For the first time, the Electoral Study asked about Australians' attitudes to same-sex marriage.“This survey shows that more people support same-sex marriage, than oppose it. As a consequence, the government should move to change the Marriage Act to allow same-sex marriage,” said Mr Murphy.
"This will bring Australia into line with Canada, South Africa, the Netherlands, California, Massachusetts, Belgium and Spain. Not to mention, the United Kingdom and New Zealand where they have same-sex civil unions," said Mr Murphy.
“In the 21st century, it is unacceptable for Australia to prohibit people from marrying the partner of their choice. It’s a simple matter of equality,” said Mr Murphy.
“This survey shows that those who think it is okay to discriminate against gays and lesbians do not constitute a majority of the community. They can no longer claim to be the ‘silent majority’. We welcome the survey's finding that Australia is a tolerant society,” said Mr Murphy. The survey set of 1,856 people were asked whether marriages between same-sex couples should be treated equally as traditional (opposite-sex) couples. In 2007, 43.5% of people thought it should. While 43.1% thought it should not. A total of 13.4% were undecided. This is the first year that the Australian Election Survey has asked this question.
For more information contact: Cameron Murphy, NSWCCL President, 0411-769-769
Sources...
|
|
|
|
