A cross-party delegation of jet-lagged and obstinate Australian parliamentarians arrived in Washington DC last September to advocate for Julian Assange’s freedom. Those in the room reflect on how the “robust”, and at times “aggressive”, meeting went.
Sitting on one side of the long mahogany table were three US departmental officials and a media adviser.
On the other side, as diverse a collection of Australian politicians as you could imagine – Senator Whish-Wilson, his fellow Greens senator David Shoebridge, former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce, independent MP Monique Ryan, Labor MP Tony Zappia, and Liberal senator Alex Antic.
Also present was Julian Assange’s brother Gabriel Shipton and Rohan Wenn, an adviser to independent MP Andrew Wilkie, who could not make the trip.
“They all picked up on a different piece of the argument — watching them all come together and work together was something else. I was very impressed.”
The delegation during the meeting raised several issues including freedom of speech, shifting public sentiment in Australia, the US-Australia alliance, and jurisdictional rights.
The group acknowledged the important roles played by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Australia’s US Ambassador Kevin Rudd, Assange’s family, his legal team, and the Australian people.
“I want to stress it was a small part of a years-long global solidarity campaign, without which Julian’s release could not have been achieved,” Senator Shoebridge said.
Kinda wild to have that particular group working together for the same thing. Wish we could get some more of that going on 😪
Barnaby Joyce??!?!?!?!??!??
🎵 … is that the Chattanooga Choo Choo? 🎵
Hey, if he’s willing to come on board in support of a good cause, I’m willing to have him o7
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Their mission was to convince the department responsible for prosecuting Assange that the dial had shifted in Australia and that its people, and its politicians, wanted the WikiLeaks publisher to be freed and returned home.
The delegation during the meeting raised several issues including freedom of speech, shifting public sentiment in Australia, the US-Australia alliance, and jurisdictional rights.
It was then that Mr Joyce brought Johnny Depp’s dogs into it, raising the infamous case in 2015 when the then-minister for agriculture threatened to euthanise the Hollywood star’s pooches — Pistol and Boo — due to quarantine breaches.
“I told them it diminished Australia’s ability to stand on behalf of others being detained in authoritarian countries when Julian was being held inside Belmarsh Prison,” the Labor MP said.
“It would be fair to say within that hyper-partisan environment, they didn’t know what to make of this group of assorted Australian politicians who on paper had so much that divided them, that were all pushing for this same outcome, and all prized Julian’s freedom.”
The group acknowledged the important roles played by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Australia’s US Ambassador Kevin Rudd, Assange’s family, his legal team, and the Australian people.
The original article contains 1,315 words, the summary contains 198 words. Saved 85%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
