Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Like many politicians, Tanya Plibersek does not like talking about her personal life.
But on Thursday, the deputy Labor leader was moved to talk about painful family episodes in the most public forum in the country.
During a motion calling for a stay of execution for Bali nine smugglers Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, Ms Plibersek used the example of her husband Michael Coutts-Trotter's jailing on a drugs charge to argue for mercy.
"I perhaps have a particular view of remorse and redemption," Ms Plibersek told the lower house.
Ms Plibersek has never made a secret of the fact that her husband - who is now a senior NSW public servant - had been a drug dealer in early 1980s. But she rarely discusses it.
"I imagine what would have happened if he had been caught in Thailand instead of Australia, where the crime was committed ... what would the world have missed out on?
"They would have missed out on the three beautiful children we had together. They would have missed out on a man who spent the rest of his life making amends for the crime that he committed."
Ms Plibersek told the House that she also looked at Chan and Sukumaran's situation from the perspective of the death of her brother, Phillip, who was fatally stabbed in his Port Moresby apartment in 1997, while fighting off an intruder.
"I know that if I had been the one making the decision about the punishment of the person who did that crime, I couldn't have thought of a punishment bad enough."
Labor's foreign affairs spokeswoman explained this was why decisions about punishment were not made on the basis of how we feel, "but on the basis of universal, consistently-applied rules".
After her address, Ms Plibersek told Fairfax Media that the only reason she had talked about her husband and brother was to highlight the plight of Chan and Sukumaran.
"The seriousness of my opposition to the death penalty meant that I was prepared to talk about things I don't normally talk about," she said.
"I don't want to talk about myself today. The only reason I talk about these things is to talk about the death penalty."
In a statement, Mr Coutts-Trotter also called for mercy.
While he said the two men should be punished with substantial jail terms, "they should be granted mercy, not death," he said.
"I was afforded a second chance by our Australian justice system. I remain grateful for that every day."
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop made a similarly emotional speech to Parliament on Thursday, when she moved a motion calling for a stay of execution, which was later unanimously supported by the House.
The Foreign Minister's voice wavered at times as she told her fellow MPs that both Chan and Sukumaran were "changed men".
She said they should not have to "pay with their lives" for a crime committed a decade ago.
The concern for Sukumaran and Chan continued behind closed doors when the Indonesian ambassador to Australia Nadjib Riphat Kesoema appeared before a human rights committee at Parliament.
Fairfax Media understands that Ms Plibersek pressed the ambassador about the two men, arguing there was no evidence that executions were effective in combating the drugs trade.
In the meeting, that was described as emotional and sombre, Coalition MP Teresa Gambaro pointed out that Indonesia advocated against the execution of its nationals on death row overseas.
In her parliamentary statement, Ms Bishop stressed that more than 55 personal representations at ministerial and prime ministerial level have been made over the past decade. The Foreign Minister has also been in contact with the families of both men.
"When I spoke to the families, who were in Jakarta, by phone this week, they told me how it was virtually impossible to be strong for each other," she said.
"How could anyone not be moved by their heartbreaking pleas for mercy?"
Chan and Sukumaran were sentenced to death in 2006 for their parts in the infamous foiled Bali nine heroin smuggling operation.
Both men have recently had their bids for a presidential pardon knocked back and are expected to be executed by firing squad this month. Lawyers for the pair are currently working on a last ditch challenge.
With Rachel Browne
