 Reading some Sydney Australia. I'm sorry I can't be with you at the tabard to take part in this important event today. Instead I'm going to give you a quick rundown of the latest events related to Julian Assange here in his native Australia, where the focus of his story has moved over the past four months. And then I'll give way to Allison Mason, a Queensland activist who spent three years in London in the Assange support community, and is now back here in Australia. Allison will say a few words about actions and events in the very vibrant movement for Assange in this country. In Britain Julian is waiting for what could be his last hearing before the High Court, which refused his appeal in June. If after the 30-minute hearing the court continues to deny his appeal, Julian could be put on a plane to Virginia. That could theoretically happen at any time. In the meantime, focus of Assange story in May switched from Britain, where his accreditation case has actually dragged on for three long years, two here in Australia, where the Prime Minister finally spoke out on behalf of his nation regarding Julian Assange. Ironically, the Prime Minister was in London for the coronation when he gave an interview to Australian Broadcaster Corporation in which Anthony Albanese first made public his government's desire to see the Assange case resolved, and Albanese first revealed that he'd spoken directly to the US government about Julian Assange. The US reacted five days after that broadcast by allowing six Australian MPs to have lunch with the American Ambassador Caroline Kennedy at her Canberra residence. Asked weeks later by the ABC radio whether the meeting that she had with the MPs changed her views of the Assange case, Kennedy said, not really. The lunch was followed two weeks later by Stella Assange, the imprisoned publisher's wife making her first visit to her husband's native country. It was timed for a scheduled trip to Australia by US President Joe Biden in late May, but Biden canceled his trip. Stella Assange nevertheless led a march through the streets of Sydney and spoke at a mass rally at Hyde Park. The outpouring was emblematic of a nation in which as many as 88% of the population want the US to drop the espionage and computer intrusion charges against Assange and allow them to return home. Julian Assange faces a virtual life sentence of up to 175 years in prison if he's extradited from Britain and convicted in the US. Further remarks after that from Albanese in May that Assange had to play his part led to speculation that some sort of plea deal for Assange was possible. Assange lawyer Jennifer Robinson said for the first time on behalf of Assange's legal team that they would indeed consider a plea deal. She told the National Press Club audience in Canberra on May 22nd, quote, we're considering all options. The difficulty is our primary position is of course that the case ought to be dropped. We say no crime has been committed and the facts of the case don't disclose a crime. So what is it that Julian would be pleading to? Possible solution could be a so-called Alfred plea in which Assange would continue to state his innocence while accepting a lesser charge that will allow him to serve additional time in Australia. The four years Assange has already served on remand at London's maximum security bail march prison could perhaps be taken into account. However the door to this solution seemed to be slammed shut on any kind of plea deal and negotiation when Secretary of State Anthony Blinken traveled to Brisbane and on July 31st said the following quote, what our Department of Justice has already said repeatedly publicly is this that Mr. Assange was charged with very serious criminal conduct in the United States in connection with his alleged role in one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of our country. The actions that he is alleged to have committed risk very serious harm to our national security. So I say that only because just as we understand sensitivities here it's important that our friends understand sensitivities in the United States that Blinken uttered these words at all showed that the case is diplomatic and political and not just legal that is strictly within the purview of the Justice Department. The reaction in Australia was fiercer than the US probably expected. Anthony Blinken's allegation that Julian Assange risked very serious harm to US national security as patent nonsense independent MP Andrew Wilkie told the Guardians Australian edition. Wilkie said that Assange was quote not the villain and if the US wasn't obsessed with revenge it would drop their tradition charge as soon as possible. Labour MP Julian Hill was part of the bring Julian Assange home solemn entry group told the Guardian that he quote had a fundamentally different view of the substance of the matter than Secretary Blinken expressed. Albanese himself continued to call for the end after that rough reception. Kennedy gave an interview to the Sydney Morning Herald and in a front page interview on August 14th said that the United States was now despite Blinken's unequivocal words suddenly open to a plea agreement that could free Assange allowing him to serve a shortened sentence for a lesser crime in his home country. However, Craig Murray a former British diplomat and close Assange associates who many of you know and he'll be there at the Tabard about a week from now he told WBAI radio in New York last Friday that the United States has not despite Kennedy's words so far offered any sort of plea deal to Assange's legality. Craig Murray said quote there have been noises made by the US ambassador to Australia saying that a plea deal is possible and that's what the Australian government have been pushing for as a way to resolve this. What I could tell you is that there have been no official approaches from the American government indicating any willingness to soften or ameliorate their position. The position of the Biden administration still seems to be that they wish to persecute and destroy Julian and lock him up for life for publishing the truth about war crimes. So the US chatter about a plea deal was possibly designed to one either soften the reaction to Blinken's remarks as opposition to the US-led AUKUS alliance against China as well as support for Assange both grow here in Australia. Two to lure Assange into giving up his extradition fight and going to the US to negotiate a deal something his father and brother said he would never do which would also of course evade European Court of Human Rights injunction to block his extradition or three postpone a British decision on extradition until after the November 2024 US presidential election to avoid the optics of Biden in the midst of his reelection campaign trying to send a publisher to prison for life for publishing embarrassing state secrets. It is into this political storm that six Australian parliamentarians will arrive in Washington on September 20th to face obstinate and thoroughly uninformed views about Assange entrenched in the US political establishment. They will have two days these MPs to educate members of Congress as well as state and justice department officials whom they will meet about the threat to the United States Constitution and to a free press if the persecution of their citizen continues. And now I'll turn it over to Allison Mason and this pre-recorded message to speak about Assange activism in Australia. Hi I'm Allison Mason an Australian activist and I'd like to tell you why we have such enormous support for Julian Assange in Australia. First let me say how wonderful it was that groups worldwide supported the Australian government's stance that enough is enough and the prosecution must end through the Father's Day rallies last weekend at Australian embassies in the US, the UK, Ireland and Europe. So good to see people following Julian's ethic to stand up for what is right and moral and to support Australia's mission to free Assange. The world is watching and joining together to back up Australia. I just got a report from someone who visited Julian in jail this week that he wants people to be wild and creative and unafraid to stand up for our rights, be bold, be colorful and inspiring, get your artists on board. So you may want to know how we organise. The tyranny of distance is something we have in common. We have a premium banner artist here in Graham Dunstan who was an Aquarius Festival co-founder, beautiful banners, low cost to replicate from his patterns that he can email to you. We got to stick together. Julian's dad John Shipton recently was in Brazil where he met with officials and he appeared on Glenn Greenwald's system update. John stressed the importance of the international community backing Australia's mission. John said the outspoken support of President Lula de Silva of Brazil and President Obrador of Mexico in concert with the interests of Australia will bring a proper solution. Quote, together these two men have moved the persecution of Julian up and now it has become a diplomatic matter between nations. We are trying to paint on that canvas of international support. Now there's a reason why polls in Australia repeatedly show 80 to 90 percent of Australians want Julian freed and returned to his home country. This new and terrifying example that the U.S. is trying to install of extraterritorial judicial reach is one that has to be resisted to protect all citizens of the world from that tyranny and it strikes at Australia's heart with Julian. And a great example of this plays out every Thursday when Timas Van Sivdie goes to the electorate office of the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, and with a little sign honk for Julian, the honks and the beeps and the toots from passing by motorists is incessant. There's no better way to reinforce support for Julian and inform the PM's office that the polls are not lying. Everyone in this part of town is waving and beeping and this must be reported back to the PM and probably to Washington who as we know has an ear on what's going on everywhere. There's a large ethnic Chinese population in that electorate and they are huge assigned supporters. Julian regularly features on the front page of the local Chinese press and newspapers in China. Good idea, hold events where there are ethnic groups who totally know all about Julian. The Chinese, Middle Eastern, South American and African communities appreciate firsthand the work of WikiLeaks. They are our allies. So the crew in Sydney report this overwhelming reaction including friendly cops whose kind behaviour shows their true heart in a little humorous episode recently even a hearse stopped and put its blinking lights on to show support. In Sydney, celebrity journalist Ozzy Kossak has organised rallies, the last one before Stella came to town. Thousands of people marched and the footage was sent around the world and here's another one, a freedom rally on September the 23rd and that broadens the base of support. The visit by Stella to Sydney was supposed to coincide with their visit by President Biden. The rally in March was huge, was Stella leading out the front that unfortunately President Biden pulled out, make of that what you will. So Sydney is the epicentre of movement in Australia doing four actions weekly. The long time Sydney Town Hall gathering for Julian every Friday night which you can check out on Gong Steve's YouTube channel. Saturday gathering in Hyde Park, Wednesday outside the US consulate in North Sydney and Thursday PM's office. The crew has noticed the US consulate recently closing for the hour coinciding with their weekly action. So we suppose they might prefer visa applicants not to see and hear about Julian perhaps. Pop into a consulate to deliver a letter or petition. They recently delivered one from Rome to the PM's office. But there are actions up and down the East Coast of Australia from my home state of Queensland and the capital Brisbane at Sunday markets every May Day and they recently joined together with the anti-war groups at the National Conference of the Governing Party, the Australian Labor Party. The anti-war groups have been a boon here obviously. In the coastal tourist regions of Kansas Magnetic Island in the north where Julian spent his childhood there are active groups. We did at anything to say chair action on Magnetic Island. That's a great one to replicate even without the statues in a town square with just a chair and a megaphone. Ours was on the beach. Then going down the East Coast, Byron Bay, Moulinbar, Malinbin, Nimbin, the home of the Mardi Gras Festival which has a big presence in a stall and street banners. There's festivals, mini-plays, street theater. They've all been done based on the court testimony and that's stored at tarikhadad.com. So easy to do satire with this material from the court. Beyond Sydney and the country's capital, Canberra, big riders have been held with speakers including politicians from the Parliamentary Friends and Assange Group who plan to visit that other capital DC soon. And the music events to be held in Canberra soon too. Further down you have Melbourne, the so-called intellectual capital of Australia. Recently there were events at nightclubs and a tattoo studio art auction with donated works. In Adelaide, South Australia, the Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong's office is a spot that Adelaide for Assange regular gatherings. And there was a sit-in at the Department of Foreign Affairs in trade in 2013 which got huge international media. There's also Adelaide having a big hand in formulating the Meet Your MP program. Every citizen can book a meeting and discuss the issue. That's a solo action you can call on every citizen to do. Many people in the country areas all over Australia have smaller but very active groups supporting Julian. They do actions at the Gate of Hell, military industrial complex factories plastered with gruesome war crimes pictures on posters. And don't forget First Nations Peoples. Julian received a passport from the Aboriginal Embassy. Stand with the number one. Such is the affection from the First Nations Peoples for a heroic brother. The songlines give us hope and feed the soul. In the words of singer Michael Bronnock, hope and hopelessness might just be an opening to a discovery that is far beyond them both. Something boundless, something that is crackling with potentiality and something the bastard never saw coming. Good luck. Resist, rest, repeat. See ya.