Freedom !

One of the " Bali Nine " will arrive back in Australia and possibly be rearrested by New South Wales police and put before a court to face charges relating to a car theft and a police chase that was cut short when they attempted to smuggle heroin into Australia.

That drug bust has long been a point of contention.  It was our police who tipped off the Indonesians that nine young Australians were planning to tape heroin to their bodies and pass through customs at Bali airport.  That bust could have just as easily been done here as they stepped off the plane on their arrival but making it happen in Indonesia involved that countries harsh drug laws.

The arrests were catastrophic for eight young Australian men and their one female companion.  The two ring leaders - Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were executed in April 2015 and Tan Duc Thank Nguyen died of cancer in prison in June of this year.  The other Australian males are serving life sentences in Indonesian prisons and the protocols that exist indicate that they will never be released.

The exception was Renae Lawrence.  She was also given a life sentence but this was later commuted to a twenty year term.  The big difference is that those sentenced to life do not receive remissions for good behaviour and on religious holidays and the country's independence day.  It seems that Lawrence was a model prisoner and after serving thirteen years her remissions enabled her to be released - and deported to Australia.

It is a fact that Indonesian courts usually deliver a lighter sentence on women drug smugglers, but Lawrence was the only one of the nine to not appeal against her sentence.  Many contend that this is the main reason the sentence was commuted from life to a fixed term, which also became eligible for remissions.   The present Indonesian president, Jokowi has a no tolerance stance to drug distribution.

Now 41, Renae Lawrence will find a very different Australia to the one she knew when she embarked on that ill fated drug smuggling attempt.  The world of commerce and computers has made great strides and she will need retraining to fit back into the jobs market.  Initially, she will be some sort of celebrity and keenly sought for her story by many women's magazines but a lot depends on how she fares with those latent charges still waiting on the state law books.

Most likely the courts will be lenient.  The Indonesian prison authorities speak well of her and claim she has made strenuous efforts on rehabilitation.  It seems she developed a flair for painting while in prison and it is possible that she may follow this activity back in Australia but the most important lesson the Bali Nine delivered to ordinary Australians was the sheer insanity of their attempt to blatantly smuggle drugs through a country with draconian drug laws.

Commercial quantities of smuggled drugs are still rife on the Australian waterfront but it is evident that what happened to Schapelle  Corby and the Bali Nine was the lesson that persuaded many young Australians that both Singapore and Indonesia were too high risk.  There have been few similar attempts creating news headlines.