Jakarta: Australia has joined a growing international outcry over the introduction of sharia in Brunei, which includes the death penalty for extra-marital and gay sex in the majority-Muslim country. 

The harsh new penal code began to be implemented by the country's 72-year-old ruler, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, in October 2013 and came into full effect on Wednesday. 

The suit of Islamic laws introduced under Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah includes death by stoning for sex between people of the same gender.  Credit:EPA

It has drawn strong criticism from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the United States, Germany, France and Britain and calls for boycotts of luxury hotels such as the Beverly Hills hotel, which is owned by Brunei. 

Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne said Australia had "raised our concerns with the Brunei government on the introduction of the full Syariah Penal Code".