Australian parliament pleads for Bali pair

Labor and the Liberals have pleaded with Indonesia to spare the lives of two Australian drug smugglers.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has used parliament to directly plead with the Indonesian president to spare the lives of two Australian drug smugglers.

Ms Bishop told parliament on Wednesday Indonesian authorities were preparing for the execution of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.

"On behalf of the parliament, I respectfully ask of the Indonesian president that he spare the lives of these two Australian citizens," Ms Bishop said.

She said she had spoken with the two families on Wednesday morning.

"As you can imagine they are devastated but they are just living day by day," she said.

A plea for clemency was rejected in January but since then the government has been seeking a permanent stay of execution.

Ms Bishop said there were grounds for clemency and the government believed there were still legal avenues open to the pair.

"The grounds are that both men have shown immense remorse for their grave crimes and ... have undergone an extraordinary rehabilitation".

Labor foreign affairs spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek supported the minister's remarks.

"We are united in opposing the death penalty in this case as we are in every case," she said.

"We would plead with the Indonesian government and the people of Indonesia ... for the lives of two young men who have made enormous transformations in their lives and who are making enormous transformations in the lives of other people as well."

In the Senate, Attorney-General George Brandis said the government had made at least 22 representations to Indonesian officials since January in a bid to save the two men.

That included letters and phone calls from Prime Minister Tony Abbott, Ms Bishop and the Australian Federal Police.

ASIO chief Duncan Lewis and Attorney-General Department secretary Chris Moraitis had also been sent to Indonesia to plead for the pair.


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Source: AAP


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