Australia has done very little over past years in practical terms when it comes to protecting the rights of its imprisoned citizen Julian Assange, who is still locked up in London's Belmarsh Prison as his extradition case is slowly processing through the courts.
This is why it's somewhat surprising and refreshing to very belatedly hear Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese while visiting England complain about the WikiLeaks founder's ongoing detention, though not for the first time of his administration. He also expressed concerns over his health and well-being during all these years of harsh confinement, previously holed up inside the Ecuadorian embassy as well.
On Friday Albanese said he is "frustrated" for not having found a diplomatic fix to Assange's plight. "I know it's frustrating, I share the frustration," Albanese told ABC television from London.
"I can't do more than make very clear what my position is and the U.S. administration is certainly very aware of what the Australian government's position is. There is nothing to be served by his ongoing incarceration."
"Enough is enough, this needs to be brought to a conclusion, it needs to be worked through," said Albanese, and also highlighted a glaring contradiction:
Albanese said Australians were failing to understand the reasons for freeing the source who leaked the documents to Assange while he still remained in prison, referring to the release of former U.S. soldier and WikiLeaks source Chelsea Manning.
WikiLeaks and Assange's legal team and family will certainly welcome the Australian leaders' protestations, and there's hope that Albanese will continue pressing the issue with President Joe Biden.
Assange supporters, however, are arguing that Albanese is in a position to do much more, but has so far stopped short:
The prime minister apparently is not willing to use his leverage with the U.S. regarding Assange when it comes to Australia’s reckless assistance to Washington’s preparations for war with China. As many people have pointed out, the U.S. needs Australia a lot more than Australia needs the U.S. in this regard.
And the point Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong made about Australia not interfering in the ongoing legal processes of another country has been rubbished by the fact that Australia has done just that in two cases to free their citizens from foreign jails.
Assange is sitting in Belmarsh prison just miles from where Albanese is staying in London. The prime minister can go see his jailed citizen, as suggested by Consortium News reader Randal Marin.
Assange's plight has largely dropped out of mainstream media coverage, and so indeed any potential efforts of Albanese to visit him in prison would be hugely symbolic and a boost to WikiLeaks.
But it remains that Australia is a member of the 'Five Eyes' intelligence-sharing allies, and thus is always likely to default on the side of Washington's security interests in cases like this, centered on a famous dissident journalist.
