Two Australian MPs - Barnaby Joyce and Andrew Wilkie - are at last trying to do something to get our government to help Julian Assange, who is currently at the mercy of the British establishment, which threatens to hand him over to a secret trial in the United States. See, "Barnaby Joyce says Government should protect Julian Assange from extradition to the US".
Independent Tasmanian MP Andrew Wilkie is apparently trying to get a coalition of supporters in the Australian Parliament to lobby for Assange's return to Australia. He has described Labour members as the most reluctant. See https://www.hepburnadvocate.com.au/story/6435790/barnaby-calls-on-australia-to-help-assange/?cs=7
Meanwhile Assange has been detained in prison beyond the term of his imprisonment for skipping bail (in fear of his life) whilst awaiting a hearing of the case to extradite him to the United States.
The United States wants Assange because he exposed its war-crimes. It is likely that any US tribunal that gets its hands on Assange will try him in secret, with no witnesses. The US has accused him of crimes that should only apply to US citizens. If the United States is given permission to extradite Assange by the UK, that will mean that the UK will have more or less crowned the US as a world emperor, by granting it jurisdiction over the whole world.
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Sheila Newman
Mon, 2019-10-14 22:03
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Tell Barnaby & Wilkie you approve their suppport for Assange!
Sheila Newman
Mon, 2019-10-14 22:11
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Barnaby responds to message of support
James Sinnamon
Tue, 2019-10-15 02:20
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Socialist Equity Party reports Barnaby's support for Julian
From Prominent Australian parliamentarian declares extradition of Julian Assange to US "totally unreasonable" (14/10/19) | WSWS by James Cogan:
In comments to reporters over the past 24-hours, Australian parliamentarian Barnaby Joyce, the former leader of the rural-based National Party and one-time deputy prime minister, opposed the extradition of Australian citizen and WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange to the United States to face charges of espionage.
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Joyce’s statements on the case of Julian Assange have a significance that goes far beyond his past or current status within the Australian establishment. They reflect anxiety in both political and media circles that the widespread disquiet over their collaboration in the US-led persecution of an Australian citizen is going to burgeon into public anger over the coming weeks and months.
Assange, an internationally recognised and awarded journalist and publisher, is being held in solitary confinement and harsh conditions in the maximum-security Belmarsh prison in London. His family members and high-profile supporters who have been able to visit him are making strident warnings that his psychological and physical state is deteriorating. His father John Shipton stated this month: "His health has been declining and has reached a point where he may die."
Millions of people in Australia and around the world know that the only reason Julian Assange is being persecuted is because WikiLeaks published information that exposed war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as sordid diplomatic intrigues and shameless political corruption.
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There will be escalating protests and other political action in defence of Assange in the UK, the US, and internationally, and especially in Australia.
The issues raised by Barnaby Joyce go to the heart of the undeniable responsibility of the government in Canberra to use all possible diplomatic and legal means to protect Assange from the US vendetta, secure his immediate release from imprisonment in the UK and arrange his return to his home country.
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