Australian celebrities have come under criticism for sharing a video urging Prime Minister Tony Abbot to fly to Indonesia in a last attempt to stop the executions of Bali nine duo Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.
“Today” show host Karl Stefanovic has said the video “missed the mark”, commenting that it may have been driven by some sort of politically motivated “agenda”.
“There’s a connotation there that Tony Abbott hasn’t done enough and I think there’s almost an aggressive connotation there that I think is completely and utterly wrong, that I think has missed the mark on every single level,” he said on the “Today” show this morning. “I think there’s clearly an agenda there of some kind and I just don’t think it’s worth acknowledging at this point.”
The video, titled “Save our boys Mr Abbott”, was published today, hours before the planned execution by firing squad of convicted drug smugglers Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran is due to take place. It features Australian actors and musicians like Geoffrey Rush, Guy Pearce, Brendon Cowell and Deborah Mailman.
“Tony, if you had any courage and compassion you’d go to Indonesia and bring these boys home,” Cowell says in the video. “Show some balls.” Cowell has since apologised if the video came across as “desperate or ignorant”. We are “just heart broken,” he added.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has defended Tony Abbott and the Federal government’s appeals to the Indonesian president to grant a stay of clemency, telling Karl Stefanovic, “clearly, if travelling to Indonesia would make a difference we would have gone there.”
“We take the very best advice from our people who are in Indonesia [and] are part of a very high-level, sustained campaign to seek a stay of execution. If there was any indication that being in Indonesia would help, of course we would be there, but that’s not the advice we received.”
The video has since been taken down from Vimeo and The Mercy Campaign, who have for years advocated on behalf of Chan and Sukumaran have distanced themselves from it.
“It’s inconsistent with our message – our message that we’ve always had – which is that the only person who has the power to grant clemency for Myuran and Andrew is the Indonesian president,” Brigid Delaney, Mercy Campaign co-founder told Fairfax.
The Mercy Campaign will hold a public vigil in Sydney’s Martin Place from 6pm tonight.
Apology if we came across desperate or ignorant. Just heart broken.
— brendan cowell (@brendancowell) April 28, 2015
