Bali Nine: triple j defends decision to publish death penalty poll after claims it would be partly to blame for executions of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran

Updated

ABC's triple j radio station has launched a spirited defence of its decision to publish opinion polling about the death penalty, after a supporter of two Australians on death row in Indonesia said the station should be held partly responsible if the pair is executed.

Supporters of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran said their bid for clemency was stymied in part by a poll which showed a slim majority of Australians supported the death penalty.

The SMS poll of 2,123 people was conducted by Roy Morgan Research over the Australia Day weekend.

Triple j suggested questions for the poll and the results were published by the station's Hack program on January 27.

It showed 52 per cent of people agreed that Australians convicted of drug trafficking in another country and sentenced to death should be executed.

Since it was published, the courts have denied a last-ditch appeal by the drug smugglers and authorities in Indonesia are now making plans to execute the pair.

But on Thursday the men wrote another letter begging the Indonesian government to spare their lives.

Both Indonesia's ambassador to Canberra, Nadjib Rifat Kesuma, and attorney-general Muhammad Prasetyo have referred to the poll's findings as proof many Australians support the judicial killing of the two men.

In a statement read out on Hack this afternoon, presenter Tom Tilley said: "It would be a dangerous precedent for journalists not to report these things because they are fearful of how politicians may react."

[Those involved in the survey] will know that they have had a part, no matter how small, in the death of two other people. Greg Craven, ACU vice chancellor

Tilley said he and all staff on the Hack team held the deepest sympathies for Chan and Sukumaran and their families.

He said it was not uncommon for media outlets to legitimately use polling in reporting everyday stories.

The news that Chan and Sukumaran will be among the next group to face execution has devastated their supporters.

"The boys have really turned their lives into very constructive lives for other prisoners so the families are very proud of them," the pair's Australian lawyer Julian McMahon said.

"And there's a lot of closeness there but from my observation what'll be happening now is that the two clients will be looking after their families, who will be shattered."

Greg Craven, vice-chancellor of the Australian Catholic University and a supporter of the Mercy campaign that was set up to call for clemency for the two Australians, was angry the triple j poll was published.

"If these two men really are executed then the radio station that commissioned the poll, the people who delivered that poll, and the people who answered that poll in the affirmative will know that they have had a part, no matter how small, in the death of two other people," he said.

Poll should have asked real question, not theoretical one: Craven

Professor Craven said the pollsters and the radio station had given ammunition to the Indonesian authorities and it had asked the wrong question.

"It asked a theoretical question which is 'are you in favour of people being executed if they breach foreign law?'

"The real question is, 'are you in favour of the two reformed Australians Andrew and Myuran having their heads blown off or their hearts blown out for smuggling drugs, for which they would have gone to jail in most other countries?'" he said.

Roy Morgan Research chief executive Michele Levine said the polling company always sought to accurately reflect what the Australian public thought.

"The impact of the truth must be what it is," she said.

Ms Levine said the company had asked the same question for more than 30 years.

"Pretty much always Australians have been strongly of the view that if an Australian is convicted of drug trafficking in a country where that crime attracts the death penalty, that the death penalty should be carried out," she said.

"In the '80s, it was as high as 80 per cent of people felt that way. The issue's been softening so when we surveyed it just recently, the electorate had softened a lot, but we still found a majority, 53 per cent of people, were of the opinion that the penalty should be carried out."

At the time of the report, Hack referred to the poll as "an exclusive Roy Morgan poll for Hack", but this afternoon Tilley clarified by saying triple j approached Roy Morgan suggesting they conduct the poll at that time.

Professor Craven hopes to prove the poll wrong, and has urged all Australians to keep pleading with the Indonesian authorities to show mercy towards the two Australians.

"There could be an act of spontaneous clemency — they could be reprieved, for example. As long as these men are alive, there is hope they will stay alive," he said.

Topics: law-crime-and-justice, drug-offences, indonesia, australia

First posted