A Brief History Of The Death Penalty In Australia (Naked City)

We seldom see coverage of death penalty executions here on our evening TV news, but the recent botched execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee received headline status. After nearly three decades on death row, Pike was set to be the first woman killed by the State in nearly two hundred years.

When two doses of a lethal injection failed, she was rushed to hospital where ironically all efforts were made to preserve her life.

The incident has again raised heated discussion about the death penalty in the US with executions in 2026 surging to their highest level in sixteen years. In 2025 there were forty seven executions with over two thousand inmates currently on death row. The majority of States, where capital punishment still exists, employ lethal injections whilst Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia currently maintain the option of using the electric chair – often referred to in the past as ‘Old Sparky’.

Here in Australia capital punishment has been abolished in all States since 1985 with NSW abolishing the death penalty for murder in 1955 and for all crimes in 1985. Since Federation in 1901, there have been one hundred and twenty-five death penalty executions with the last person to face the gallows being Ronald Ryan in Victoria in February of 1967.

Ryan was convicted of the shooting and killing of a prison warder during an escape from Pentridge and his execution became a political and public bunfight. Henry Bolte, the premier at the time earned the mocking title of ‘Henry the Hangman’ for his determination to see the hanging take place, despite large scale public protests.

Thousands took part in street demonstrations and the three daily newspapers, The Age, The Herald and The Sun all ran campaigns opposing the death penalty as cruel and barbaric. Despite all requests for mercy the hanging finally took place with Ryan supposedly offered a sip of whiskey prior to walking onto the gallows trapdoor. His last words to the hangman were reportedly “God bless you, please make it quick”.

You might have thought that was the end of the death penalty debate in Australia but there has always been a minority calling for its return. Whether it’s based on some kind of ancient biblical commandment from the book of Exodus, i.e. ‘an eye for eye’, or simply as a deterrent for the most horrendous crimes, there are some Australians who would like to adopt American style justice when it comes to the legal murder.

The current environment of violent gang killings, home invasions, mass shootings and lethal domestic violence has seen a number of calls for not only the extension of mandatory life sentences but the possible return of capital punishment – albeit in extreme cases. The latter is unlikely ever to happen but that hasn’t stopped certain politicians and commentators appealing to populist rage – and perhaps introducing our own deadly vaccination program.

Not surprisingly, Pauline Hanson has been at the forefront of such calls although she appears to run hot and cold on the issue. After the assassination of fellow ideologue Charlie Kirk in the USA she demanded the return of the death penalty in Australia, at the same time revealing how she threatened an evil child killer whilst she was serving a jail term in 2003. As far as I can see she made no mention of the actual mode of execution at the time, but the ‘Aussie’ way always seems to have been a good old fashioned hanging.

Over the years One Nation’s policy on capital punishment has certainly fluctuated, at one stage demanding the death penalty for drug traffickers, with few details as to what amount or value of narcotics would earn you with a date with the hangman. In 2001 Hanson lodged a One Nation policy document with the Australian Government calling for a binding referendum to enforce compulsory executions in Australia for serious crimes such as the manufacturing and trafficking of hard drugs and the perpetrators of serial homicides, premeditated homicides and child homicides.”

More recently, with Barnaby Joyce defecting to the party, it appears One Nation has scrapped its call for capital punishment, although look out if it ever gets in the position to wield real political power.

In the good old USA, most criminologists agree that capital punishment does not reduce violent crime and is not a real deterrent. Similarly, countries throughout the world that have abolished capital punishment have generally not experienced a rise in the murder rate.

In January of 2025 Trump issued an edict from the White House titled ‘Restoring The Death Penalty And Protecting Public Safety’ which stated:
“Capital punishment is an essential tool for deterring and punishing those who would commit the most heinous crimes and acts of lethal violence against American citizens. Before, during, and after the founding of the United States, our cities, States, and country have continuously relied upon capital punishment as the ultimate deterrent and only proper punishment for the vilest crimes.”

There is no mention of the actual method of execution although Trump in the past has often revealed a certain nostalgia for the electric chair. And who doesn’t love to see sparks fly? Maybe if electrocution is ever reintroduced, as opposed to those messy lethal injections, we could see two or three prisoners terminated together on the energy saving, Trump endorsed, ‘electric couch’.