The PM says the Australian Catholic University’s creation of scholarships in Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran’s name ‘sends a very unusual message’

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

The prime minister, Tony Abbott, has said a decision by the Australian Catholic University to create two scholarships named after executed drug smugglers Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran was “open to profound questions”.



The university said the scholarships, for Indonesian students to study in Australia, would provide full tuition fees over four years and would be awarded on the basis of an essay on the topic of “the sanctity of human life”.

“While I deplore what happened this week, I absolutely deplore what happened ... by the same token there can be no truck with drug trafficking,” Abbott said in an interview on 2GB Friday.

He said the scholarships “send a very unusual message, it is, if I may say so, an odd thing for a university to do, particularly for an institution that is supposed to stand up for the best values.”

“I know part of Christian faith is forgiveness but another part of Christian faith is calling people to be their best selves ... whether that justifies what has apparently been done is open to profound questions.”

Announcing the scholarships, the university’s vice-chancellor, Prof Greg Craven, said in a statement “in a small but symbolic way, the writing by Indonesian students on the sanctity of life would be an ongoing contribution toward the eventual abolition of the death penalty in Indonesia”.

“The scholarships would be a fitting tribute to the reformation, courage and dignity of the two men,” he said.

Before being executed on Wednesday Chan and Sukumaran called for a campaign to abolish the death penalty across the world.