South Australia's Parliament debated Julian Assange's plight in September - Why won't Canberra?

Title was South Australia's Parliament to debate Julian Assange's plight this coming Wednesday - Why won't Canberra? Update, Sun 6 Nov 2022: Parliament will be sitting Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this coming week. Surely, the 41 strong Bring Julian Assange Parliamentary Support Group [1] can, finally, more than 10 years since Julian Assange was forced to seek asylum in London's Ecuadorian Embassy, find a way to put to Australia's Parliament the case as to why this government should act to end the illegal imprisonment and torture of Julian Assange? Update, Fri 4 Nov 2022: Will Julian Assange be debated in next week's sitting of your Parliament? - embedded Video. Update, 5pm Wed 28 Sep 2022: See report on Adelaide protest. Update, early Wed 28 Sep: Copies of emails, sent to all members of the bring Julian Assange Home Parliamentary Support Group has been added as Appendices. Last Friday 23 September, at the weekly Melbourne vigil for Julian Assange outside Flinders Street Station, I spoke, calling, not for the first time, for the Australian Parliament to debate the plight of Julian Assange. Since then, on Wednesday 28 September, Frank Pangallo MLC, will be putting a motion to free Assange, but only to the South Australian Parliament. The situation remains undiscussed by our representative body in Canberra, and formal processes mean that it may be forever blocked.

#parliamentMustDebateAssange_21oct22" id="parliamentMustDebateAssange_21oct22">Friday 21 October - Melbourne protesters again call upon the Australian Parliament to debate Julian Assange

Update, Friday 4 November: Since I made that speech, both the House of Representatives and the Senate have sat for three days commencing Monday 25 October. Nowhere in the Hansard for those three days is there any mention of Julian Assange. Given the dire circumstances that Julian Assange continues to face, members of the Bring Julian Assange Parliamentary Support Group should consider being more outspoken in the sittings of both Houses which are scheduled for this coming Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Since 2020, at least three attempts have been made to put motions to the Australian Parliament, which call upon the Australian Government to act to end the illegal imprisonment of Julian Assange. On each occasion, those in control of the Labor Party have colluded with those in control of the Liberal/National Coalition to prevent those motions from even being put.

I had naively assumed that for a motion to be put to our Federal Parliament, only a mover and a seconder were required. This is not the case.

As motions concerning the plight of Julian Assange have so far not been put to Parliament by either of the major parties, this issue could only be raised as a Private Members Motion, which could only be put in a roughly two hour period of time on Monday mornings.

However, past attempts to put Private Members Motions for Julian Assange have been disallowed by a shadowy body called the Selection Committee. However, as the Selection Committee no longer exists, there seems now to be no means whatsoever, to have motions, which have not been put by the major parties, discussed on the floors of our Parliament.

The most recent attempt to put a motion in support of Julian Assange to Federal Parliament was made when, last year, on 2 December 2021, Andrew Wilkie attempted, unsuccessfully, to move the motion in support of Julian Assange. A copy of that motion is included below as Appendix 2 below.

Had both the current Labor Government and the former Liberal/National Coalition government done everything they should have done and could have done for Julian Assange, they could surely have used debate on Andrew Wilkie's motion to explain that to the Australian people. The fact that they colluded, not just to vote down Andrew Wilkie's foreshadowed motion, but to prevent that motion from even being put, shows that they are hiding something from the Australian public.

By disallowing views which differ from their own, they have violated a basic principle of representative.democracy.

The Australian government, which has allowed Julian Assange, a citizen of this country, to be illegally imprisoned and tortured in the United Kingdom, and has failed to take any action to prevent the efforts by another country, the United States, to extradite him to face even more horrendous conditions for the rest of his life, is not fit to run the country and should be made to resign. Likewise, each Member of Parliament and each Senator who has failed to speak up for Julian Assange is not fit to hold office and also should be made to resign.

Melbourne protesters call upon the Australian Parliament to debate Julian Assange

Appendix 1: Email to members of the Parliamentary Support group for Julian Assange:

Copies of the following email, were sent to Andrew Wilkie MP, Ms Zali Steggall MP, Adam Bandt MP, Tony Zappia MP, Ms Rebekha Sharkie MP, Julian Hill MP, Peter Whish-Wilson MP, Senator Janet Rice, Barnaby Joyce MP, Peter Khalil MP and Senator Sarah Hanson-Young

Dear Zali Steggall,

Re: Suspension of standing orders to debate Assange and calling for a division to show who voted which way. [Copies have been sent to all members of the "Bring Julian Assange Home Parliamentary Support Group."]

What I am asking for:

As an Australian citizen, I am asking you to, once again, put a motion in Parliament to suspend the standing orders that exclude debate on Julian Assange's plight, in order to put Andrew Wilkie's foreshadowed motion dated 2 December 2021.[1] If the motion to suspend standing orders for this purpose is voted down again, I am asking you to call, this time, for a division, so that the Australian public may know which members of parliament are in favour of Julian Assange being debated and which are suppressing this. (I also spoke about this last Sunday 18 September at a protest outside Melbourne's UK Consulate.)[2]

Explanation:

The refusal by Australia's Parliament to allow meaningful discussion of the diabolical treatment that Julian Assange has endured in recent years is totally contrary to the principles of representative democracy.

As you are no doubt aware, on at least three (3) occasions since 2020, debate on the plight of Julian Assange in the Australian Parliament has been prevented.

The major parties have refused to make discussion of Julian Assange's situation and its significance a part of standing orders. They have then prevented discussion of Assange by voting down motions put by yourself, Julian Hill, and, possibly others of which I am not aware, to suspend those standing orders, so as to be able to debate Assange's plight. This has meant that successive foreshadowed motions by parliamentarians, seeking formal debate on this vital matter, could never be put. Few Australians are, of course, aware of this procedural impediment to democracy. That is because it is not reported in the mainstream media.

My own work:

It is due to the lack of effective reporting by the mainstream media that people like me have continued to demonstrate in public spaces for Julian Assange's rights and to publish alternative media coverage. I would like to point out that, despite being seriously disabled, I have put in considerable physical effort, time, and personal finances, over the previous 10 years, trying to help Julian Assange. I have spoken publicly in support of Julian Assange many times, and have published many articles, by multiple authors, over years on https://candobetter.net/JulianAssange. A number of other Julian Assange supporters have acknowledged that my activism has been effective. Details are included in the Appendix below.

Why this is urgent:

Given that Julian Assange could be days away from being confined for the rest of his life to a living hell in the United States which is even worse than the living hell he is now being made to endure in Belmarsh Prison, and given that Julian Assange could well choose to take his own life in preference to that, I think it is incumbent upon everyone who wants to help Julian Assange to consider every proposition about how he/she can help to end Assange's ordeal as soon as possible, including the proposition I have put to you above.

I will be sending an e-mail similar to this to each of the other members of Parliament who have shown support for Julian Assange.

Yours faithfully,

James Sinnamon

Appendix 2: Andrew Wilkie's foreshadowed motion in support of Julian Assange, which remains blocked by Australia's parliament.

on 2 December 2021, Andrew Wilkie attempted to put the following motion, in support of Julian Asssange, to the House of Representatives, but it was disallowed;

That the House:

(1) notes that:

(a) Walkley Award winning Australian journalist, Mr Julian Assange, remains incarcerated in HMP Belmarsh in the United Kingdom, despite a British Court earlier this year finding that Mr Assange could not be extradited to the United States of America for health reasons;

(b) the US continues to pursue Mr Assange and has recently been back inadmin court in the UK appealing the earlier decision to refuse the extradition;

(c) the reason for the US's determination to extradite Mr Assange is limited to Wikileaks' exposes in 2010 and 2011 of US war crimes and other misconduct in Iraq and Afghanistan, and in Guantanamo Bay, including the release of the 'Collateral Murder' video in which a US helicopter in Iraq gunned down innocent civilians including journalists;

(d) recent revelations in the media show the Central Intelligence Agency developed plans to abduct and assassinate Mr Assange; and

(e) the continuing incarceration of Mr Assange, and any extradition to the US, would not only be a grave injustice but a severe threat to his health and life; and

(2) calls on the Prime Minister to:

(a) speak directly with his counterparts in the US and UK to bring an end to this madness, including the US dropping all charges against Mr Assange and the UK allowing his immediate release; and

(b) commit to not allow the extradition of Mr Assange to the US from Australia.

Appendix 3: Email sent to members of the Julian Assange Support Group with the subject heading "South Australia's Parliament to debate Julian Assange's plight this coming Wednesday - Why won't Canberra?"

The following is one example of an email I sent to members of the "Bring Julian Assange Home Parliamentary Support Group" on 28 September.

Dear Zali Steggall,

This is further to an email I sent you last Thursday 22 September. I have appended to the end of this email a copy of an article I posted to my web-site https://candobetter.net/. It has the same title as the subject of this email "South Australia's Parliament to debate Julian Assange's plight this coming Wednesday - Why won't Canberra?"

Given that, at 12pm, this coming Wednesday (today) South Australia's Parliament will be debating a motion in support of Julian Assange, surely the case for our Federal Parliament also discussing the plight of Julian Assange, and voting upon it, is as strong as it could ever have been.

So, could I urge you and other members of the "Bring Julian Assange Home Parliamentary Support Group" to, once again, move for a Suspension of Standing Orders so that Andrew Wilkie's foreshadowed motion of 2 December 2021 can be put, debated and then voted upon.

As I wrote previously, if the procedural motion is lost, then, this time, call for a division. At least, then, the Australian public would be able to learn which of their elected representatives support free speech on the floors of our Parliament and which, to paraphrase Voltaire, will "fight to the death to prevent those views being heard."

Just possibly, if a division is called for, we may well find the number of members opposed to the motion being put will have been reduced to a minority.

Then the case for the Australian Government acting to end the illegal imprisonment and torture of Julian Assange will be finally heard on the floors of our Parliament. Then, who knows? We may even see Andrew Wilkie's motion carried and, from that, the Australian government made to act to end the illegal imprisonment and torture of Julian Assange.

Yours faithfully,

James Sinnamon

Update: Report on Adelaide Protest, 5pm Wed 28/9/22

Brett Burnard Stokes reports,

Thanks to all who attended this important rally.

Excellent speeches from whistleblower David McBride, former Senator Rex Patrick, Tammy Franks MLC, Frank Pangallo MLC and more. Shame on the traitors who are not standing up and speaking out for Julian and for our freedom !!!

Footnote[s]

[1] The 41 members of the Bring Julian Assange Parliamentary Support Group include the current Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who has been in office for more than 5 months now following his victory on 21 May. Given his failure to use the powers vested in him as Prime minister to end the illegal imprisonment of Julian Assange, his inclusion in this group is, at best, questionable.