 We're standing here today in front of Australia's parliament at the beginning of a new parliament in a new government and we have hope for the first time that this pursuit to the death of an Australian citizen will stop. We're here to ask the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to intervene in this pursuit of an Australian publisher for publishing the truth about US war crimes. Julian Assange faces imminent extradition and an effective death sentence. His situation has become dire. His health has almost been completely destroyed by 11 years of relentless persecution while his government has hidden behind the misuse of the law. Journalism is not espionage. Julian Assange is a political prisoner. You cannot bang on about press freedom and democracy while seeking to criminalise journalism. We're delighted today to have multiple members of the parliamentary bring dueling Assange home group here with us. Amnesty Australia are also represented and doctors for Assange as well as an individual whom you'll know who has been a political prisoner himself. The bring Assange home parliamentary group now is representative of political parties across the spectrum and I'd like to invite the first member to speak and that is Andrew Wilkie. Andrew the independent member for Clark in Tasmania is one of the most highly respected politicians in the history of this country really for the principle stand he takes on every matter important to our nation. He's been a whistleblower himself and he understands well the price that whistleblowers pay and we have owe him a great debt for getting together the parliamentary group and for expanding its ranks. Andrew Wilkie. Thank you so much Mary. When I talk in support of Julian Assange I normally rail at the government, this government, the United States government, the British government about the terrible injustice being meted out to Julian. But today I'm going to quite deliberately take a more somber and more grounded approach to my three minutes I've been allocated and that's just to set the scene. Now I first met Julian at the Melbourne Riders Festival in 2004 when I was on a panel speaking about a little book I'd written about my own whistleblowing experience over the Iraq war and after the the session this young-ish good-looking blonde-haired fellow came up to me and as best I can remember that that's how I describe him a young good-looking keen fellow and he picked my brains for a few minutes about how he might set up some sort of safe mechanism for whistleblowers to ventilate and publish the information they have and we chatted for a little while and then I forgot all about that. Until I visited Julian in Belmarsh prison in February 2020 just as the pandemic was starting and the man I saw in Belmarsh was not the man I had seen at the Melbourne Riders Festival. By that stage he'd been in Belmarsh maybe 12 months virtually all of it in solitary confinement following I think seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy and he was already a broken sick man. He did his best to put up a brave face put on a brave face but he wasn't entirely successful. I saw someone who clearly was suffering was the victim of psychological torture and was at which end. No wonder the UN Special Rapporteur on torture Nils Melzner and some of you would be familiar with his recent book has made it abundantly clear that in his expert opinion Julian Assange has been subject in Belmarsh prison to psychological torture. I can I can only try and imagine what his state is now and hence the urgency the absolute urgency for busting him out of Belmarsh as quickly as humanly possible. So I take this opportunity one more time to call on the Australian government to urgently intervene and to fix this. Now I have a lot of respect for Anthony Albanese and I'm mindful that he said that recently that something should not be handled with a megaphone but frankly we have given this government a fair bit of time now and there seems to be no progress on getting him out. Now I know I know Albo has got to manage mixed feelings within the Labor Party and among the left about Julian but I take this opportunity to say to Anthony again when you boil it all down this is all about a walkly award winning Australian journalist who published hard evidence of US war crimes and in response the US wants to get even and so so long the UK and Australia have been happy to go along for the ride because they've put their bilateral relationships with Washington ahead of the rights of a decent man a hero not a villain and that is just plain wrong please maintain the rage keep the pressure on the new government if we keep the pressure up then I am confident that eventually justice will prevail for Julian. We're going to try and move on quickly because they obviously have very important work to do in there the fact that they are here is a demonstration of how important they feel this issue is I'd like to now call on Bridget Archer to please come forward Bridget made the nation's heart sing when she crossed the floor on an emissions target and on an Australian integrity commission the fact that she's here supporting the release of Julian Assange is an indication of her support for press freedom and we're thrilled that she's here thank you thank you very much and thank you for the opportunity to speak here today my remarks will be brief because to me it is a simple proposition I joined the federal bipartisan bring Julian Assange home parliamentary group due to my ongoing concerns about the treatment he has endured over the past decade there may be a range of views about the actions of Mr Assange and WikiLeaks which can be debated but at the end of the day it's not the point when an Australian is in trouble overseas whatever the reason may be it is the duty of our government to help them it is not for us to sit in judgment this is a question of mercy and compassion for an Australian citizen who has endured inhumane conditions and has suffered significant mental and physical challenges as a result of his ongoing incarceration due to this protracted battle he has not been convicted of a crime but has already served a lengthy sentence I echo the words of fellow parliamentary group member Labor MP Julian Hill who has said there can never be a legal solution to this case it is inherently political we have previously managed to secure the safe return of Australian citizens under difficult diplomatic circumstances and we have a responsibility to do the same for Mr Assange I called on the previous government to bring Mr Assange home and I call on the new government to do the same Thank you Bridget please don't don't go Bridget I'm going to ask you to do the honours if you could just stand by here and Christian from Amnesty International before our politicians start to head back up the hill we are going to have a symbolic release of Julian many years ago Julian Assange said that if wars can be started with lies then peace can be started with the truth the dove is the symbol of peace justice and freedom our dove represents press freedom our dove is Julian Assange and we call on the prime minister to bring Julian home make it happen Monique Ryan the member for Ku Yong now there was so much to admire about Monique during the election campaign and straight after she was elected straight after she deposed the sitting treasurer Monique tweeted to Andrew Wilkie with regard to Julian Assange what can I do to help Thank you Monique thank you Mary and thank you all for the opportunity to speak today it's a testament to the power of community I think I gave my first speech in parliament this morning and what I spoke to was the fact that I was there because of the work of a community that came together to speak to it to power which is what you're all doing today in your own way I'm a doctor and I care about the health of Australians I've seen what has happened with Julian Assange in the last 10 years and I echo what Andrew and Bridget have said he's an award-winning journalist he's been convicted of no crime and I think we all know that he would not be in this position were in another sovereign power that was seeking to take him from the United Kingdom so as a member of a new wave of politicians that are really standing on the shoulders of the people who've come before us I think I can speak for many of my colleagues in parliament in this new parliament that we hope that we can make a constructive contribution to to your cause and to the cause of all Australians who try to speak truth to power we all believe in a free media most of us we all believe in injustice I think we all believe in honesty and I'm very privileged to be able to speak to you today and grateful for that opportunity and I pledge on behalf of myself but also other members of the 47th parliament to do our very best to convince the government to bring Julian home thank you Ronnie I'd now like to call on the senator from Western Australia Jordan Steel John Jordan's a remarkable individual a great advocate for disability but also for climate action he was the youngest senator to to join the Australian parliament at the age of 23 thank you so much and let me begin today by acknowledging first of all the owners of the land upon which we meet the Ngunnawal and Nambari people pay respects to their elders past present and emerging and acknowledges sovereignty over this land was never ceded Julian Assange today should be a free man he is a publisher his organization WikiLeaks obtains and publishes freely information that it obtains the literal definition of journalism it happens every day in new newsrooms across the continent it is a key pillar of democracy what he and WikiLeaks undertook was to expose horrendous war crimes covered up and concealed by the United States and for that he has been pursued he has been persecuted he has been imprisoned he is now being tortured tortured for exposing such crimes the current president and then vice president Joe Biden admitted that the persecution and prosecution of Julian Assange was basically because he had embarrassed the United States imagine that imagine being found to have killed civilians in cold blood covered it up and then attempting attempting then to imprison the person that exposed those crimes how perverse how morally bankrupt shame our Australian government in response to the persecution of this individual and his organization has offered for more than a decade now platitudes they've spoken about passive consular assistance as though Julian was an Australian overseas that it simply lost his passport lost his passport got a bit lost somewhere overseas failing at every moment to recognize the reality that this is an Australian citizen who has been forced to flee and hide and was finally taken into the custody of complicit nations ad hoc to the United States and has been subjected as the UN has spoken so clearly to the psychological torture of detention now at this very moment Julian's life is at stake let us make no mistake and democracy itself is at stake the question before the Australian government now is will it prioritize finally after all this time the liberty and human rights of an Australian citizen and in so doing send a clear message that Australia is a nation which will champion the freedom of the press which will champion human rights which will push back on the United States in America and call them out when they commit human rights abuses or will they once again remain silent and hide behind diplomatic protocols that is the decision before the new parliament and the new government today the greens along every step of the way have been in solidarity with Julian supportive of WikiLeaks and I'm very proud to be joined today by Senator Peter Wish Wilson who has been a constant ally and advocate of Julian Assange and a build on the work of so many greens MPs that have been a constant in their campaigning for his freedom and for his liberty so we join here today gathered to advocate for the freedom of a fellow citizen whose bravery and courage should be celebrated in this nation whose freedom and whose imprisonment is bound up with our own as the dove flew free today let Julian soon be free let him go home to his family who love and who miss him dearly let him begin to heal from the scars and the wounds that have been inflicted upon him let us finally turn our attention to the prosecution to the holding account of those who fired the bullets who pulled the triggers who covered up the crimes those are the ones who must be held to account now every lever must be pulled every conversation must be had Prime Minister Anthony Albanese must pick up the phone of the United States and state clearly that it is the position of the Australian government that Julian Assange be free will continue as a community together to campaign to organize across the continent until that moment comes and when Julian is free and when he is home and healed if he is so able and wants to enter that building behind me he will be welcomed as an individual of courage a great Australian who through his work brought the sunlight of justice and the empowerment of truth to so many across the world thank you so much thank you so much Jordan I hope the Prime Minister's ears are burning I'd now like to call on Peter senator Peter Wish Wilson who's been integral to this campaign he's been a strong supporter of Julian from the beginning and we there are a few people that have made as big a contribution to this as Peter has thank you Peter thank you very much I certainly would like to acknowledge the contribution that you've made and in fact many of you here today so faces that I've seen for years of rallies and organisers of today thank you thank you four years ago Julian's dad John Shipton came to visit myself and Andrew Wilkie's Parliament and we're the only two employees back then that would meet with him and it's great to see following that we set up the Friends of Julian Assange parliamentary friends that bring Assange hope group and now we've got an amazing representation and it will continue to get better so there is hope and there is optimism I'm going to be quick today can I just get a show of hands how many people marched against the unjust and illegal and catastrophic invasion of Iraq me too I don't know if you're aware but in just a few months time we're going to have the 20th anniversary of the first protests against that war leading into next year and we know in our hearts we were right to oppose that war we were right history has proven us right it was a catastrophe millions have died millions had to flee the region instability insurgency violence the world is a less safe place it has been catastrophic we were right and one of the reasons we know we were right was Julian Assange and WikiLeaks the great truth tellers of this war and Julian is sitting in a prison cell while the real criminals have gone scot-free so this is what I'm going to say to you today can we mobilize like we did nearly 20 years ago 33 million people around the planet marched against that war up to two million people on the streets of London a million on the streets of Rome Sydney at the time saw its biggest protest in history where are they all now for Julian Assange and for WikiLeaks where are they must in their hearts know that what Julian has done by telling the truth of this war was right and just and they must help us seek justice so let's work really hard in the next six months to get people out on the streets to march again because if we don't if we let Julian Assange be extradited and he dies in a maximum security prison in the US then this new war this new front that is being run by dark powers in the US we will get another war and another one we have ourselves to blame if we don't come together again so let's make sure in the next six months we get to the streets and we march for Julian we march for his freedom and we march for the legacy of press freedoms and make sure that they don't win the final front and that is a front against press freedoms and truth telling thank you thank you very much Peter now before we proceed with our speakers today i'd just like to acknowledge that what we've heard here today is very strong support among people up in on the hill uh for our prime minister to show some steal when he picks up the phone it's not just a matter of asking and then accepting the excuses president biden has said he won't intervene in prosecutions he's he doesn't believe in political interference he has primaries coming up and other things on his mind however the Australian prime minister has some very strong cards to play we have been a very good friend of the united states we have been a great supporter of all its uh military adventures which have ended in disasters over the last 50 years we are in a very good position to say if we are behind you because we have shared values this is this is the reason we're given for our alliance shared values and the defense of democracy well you don't defend democracy by taking a stab at the heart of investigative journalism and completely undermine democracy and if you do then where are the shared values where are they and why are we part of this alliance this is a conversation nationally that we need to have and we need to have our people up on the hill leading it um i'd like to now continue with uh a few words from amnesty international amnesty along with many other human rights organizations journalists unions political groups around the world have spoken out about Julian Assange and their representative christian is here today christian lampong thank you very much thank you very much for having this opportunity to speak on a very very important occasion um which i think is not only an australian opportunity to advocate for justice and freedom in the world in a world in a time when we feel there are a lot of features in terms of global interactions in terms of the health of our common democracy and what we call shared values i would speak to three points and i would reiterate our position on the Julian Assange which has been consistent principled and never changing as an individual i have enjoyed and benefited from the protection of what i call a special country australia i felt that these particular quality is something that should be enjoyed naturally by everyone let alone an australian citizen and not to even say someone that has been demonized when they are supposed to be celebrated i want all of you to know that it's not just an australian cause Julian Assange is a hero and he is a global hero that should be celebrated and the likes of people like Nelson Mandela india on right and all other global advocates for justice and freedom as we celebrate and at the same time advocate for a very very serious cause um it is important to first of all highlight the great things that these men has done in our continuous effort to engage and to make a world a better place one of the most challenging things in our time both as politicians as individuals as civil society activists is the moral courage to speak truth to power and that is what we do at amnesty international Julian Assange like just so many others lines in the category of victims of power that can see that journalism as a crime journalism shouldn't be a crime it should be what we call the fourth power or the fourth arm of government that should be the defining aspect of our democracy rather than being punished for that i think we should erect a statue for Julian Assange i am quite conscious of the fact that i do have three minutes i wouldn't want to do dishonour to this very very special advocacy effort and i wouldn't want to do dishonour to his name i would call on everyone advocate to continue in the next six months because what Julian Assange stands to face is something far more serious than the press tends to get attention we can speak about these in our communities in our churches wherever that we think that the urge for freedom it's something that is valued and i would conclude by emphasizing that the position that we hold is not a personal reflection the united nations which represents the states and the nations of the world has clearly made a declaration to the effect that keeping Julian Assange is a violation of his human rights it goes clearly and glaringly against the optional protocol on torture and the treatment that Julian Assange is getting and is most likely to get should he be extradited to the us is going to be inhumane degrading and that's not something that australia stands for that's not something that the free will stands for at a time when we face an assault to ukraine and at a time when we think that we need more powers of good to align causes like this should be something that mobilise the efforts for good so i would say free Julian Assange and out once more reiterate our collective will that the present government in its declaration that it wouldn't use megaphone diplomacy we just want to appeal whatever pressure whatever patterns or whatever method this government seeks to use we just want to invoke or reiterate to the government that the release of Assange having a free man and a good free man is something that's not good just for australia but it's good for the wall thank you very much i spy david shubridge the new senator from new south wales thank you very much thanks so much mary and i acknowledge we're all gathered here today on not a wall and numbery land we pay our collective respects to those elders past present and emerging and that place behind us has a huge job to walk with first nations people and deliver truth justice and land doesn't it but also i acknowledge the ongoing fight to bring an australian citizen home we have a new parliament and a new chance to stand up and have this government say no australian citizen should face over a century in jail for the crime of telling the truth that is the i find it astounding the way in which our government has been complicit in the ongoing persecution of one of our citizens a citizen journalist whose crime was exposing the war crimes of the united state and the war crimes of one of our allies in wars which we were involved as well without julien assange and wiki leaks we would not know the truth and it's the truth that is really at risk with his prosecution of julien assange this isn't against julien assange this is an effort by the us government with the complicity of our government it's a war against the truth and we should call it out for what it is and the truth matters and the truth matters and if our prime minister is going to stand up for that basic principle that the truth matters well he should pick up the phone and he should use the diplomatic power we have with the uk and the us and he should best say to both of those governments drop the prosecution and bring julien home so i know you've heard contributions from my greens colleagues jordan and pape and i've got to say i've watched their ongoing work in this place not letting this issue be dropped and i'm grateful for their work and i'm grateful for their advocacy but i can tell you as i look around this crowd i am grateful that there are so many australians who care about this i'm grateful that you've come down here to cambrough in the first week of this new parliament and made sure that julien assange and the truth is on the table in the first week of this parliament so i can tell you this as a greens MP and i'm the justice spokesman for the party that we will not stop we will not stop until our government steps up for julien we will not stop until our government steps up for the truth and i want to come back here in a few short weeks or months and celebrate julien assange coming home celebrate the truth and have a victory have a victory for decency over war for truth over lies and for citizens and the ability of citizens to learn the truth to learn the truth because i see this as a very clear signal to anybody else in this planet any one of us if you stand out and call out the war crimes of the united states if you stand up and call out the war crimes of australia or the united kingdom after they come after julien they'll come after you so this is a fight for the future it's a fight for the truth and i can tell you this it's a fight we're going to win we're going to bring julien home thanks very much i'd like for a moment to turn to the personal cost that julien has paid for standing up for the truth and invites dr sue wereham to say a few words sue wereham is part of the uh doctors for assange group there are over 300 of them now internationally uh raising awareness of the great cost to julien to his health to his personal life um and i yes thank you very much sue hello to you all and i would like to initially acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we meet and pay respects of all of us to their elders past present and future it's a great honor to be here among you and to stand in solidarity with each of you and with the people people in parliament with julien assange supporters around the world and especially of course with julien assange himself because there are a few people on the planet who are paying as heavy a price as he is for telling us things that we have a right to know things that are done in our name and as we all know julien has been detained for over three years in addition to his time in the equidorean embassy much of his time has been in solitary confinement he's been convicted of absolutely nothing and he is being persecuted because another country the united states wants to charge him on political charges how can australia credibly point to other nations and the war crimes that they commit when we allow treatment of a man like this who has simply exposed the crimes of our ally the united states in iraq and elsewhere doctors for assange as mary noted has over 300 members around the world who are increasingly concerned about the state of julien's julien's health both physical and mental especially since his reported mini-stroke in october last year with a history of prolonged exposure to psychological torture and now a planned extradition to a country which is virtually a which is totally ramping up the prospects of suicide then what's desperately needed now is proper attention to independent independent attention to health care proper health care to protect his future and his health doctors for assange wrote to the united united kingdom home secretary in june it was the latest in a series of letters to all the three governments involved stating clearly that his deteriorating health must be considered in her decision pretty perturbs decision regarding extradition and the letter stated in part under conditions in which the uk legal system has failed to take mr assange's current health situation into account no valid decision to approve his extradition can be made by you or anyone else well that was all to no avail the approval was granted despite his deteriorating health condition we call yet again on the australian government to intervene without further delay what more does it take for an australian government to act decisively to protect this australian citizen who is a political prisoner who is in desperate need of protection the message that the united states and the united kingdom need to hear from australia loudly and publicly the messages are simple assange's life is at risk extradition for political charges is not acceptable he must be released he must not be extradited and he must be brought home thank you very much soon now it's clear that administrations do intervene when they want to this government has dropped the prosecution the appalling prosecution against bernard colliery the previous the previous administration uh decided not to pursue the abc over their stories based on material that was allegedly leaked by david mcbride however the whistleblower is still being pursued and i'd like to invite david shubridge to say just a few words about david mcbride who's with us here today the main thing i wanted to do was acknowledge the presence of david mcbride an extremely brave whistleblower david went to london to find a government persecuting a whistleblower because our government is doing it right here david's crime was blowing the whistle on war crimes in afghanistan by the australian armed forces and for that he has been persecuted and continues to be persecuted by the by the australian government by the former government so we've seen one prosecution against a whistleblower get dropped and if we care about the truth not just about what the us does but what about australia does well collectively let's make the same demand to drop the prosecution against david and to drop the prosecution against the truth and we just collectively give a big cheer and shout and thanks to david for the bravery of telling the truth knowing for what would come against him david thank you now we have messages from julian hill from john shepton and gabriel shepton but before we go to the messages i'd like to invite our final speaker here today and that's james rickinson james has been a political prisoner himself he knows the price that you pay when you are imprisoned for the wrong reason for no reason in his case james has written countless letters to australian prime ministers foreign ministers the american president and i don't know that he's received a single reply when i was arrested in 2017 in cambodia in charge of espionage it so happened that in the cell that i was sharing with 140 other prisoners a cell less than a third the size of a tennis court there was a contraband smartphone and it was possible for me to make contact with julian in the equatorial embassy within an hour i got a recent response from julian and some advice on how best to deal with my incarceration i won't go into details about that but i i have a personal reason of course for being thankful to julian for being so quick off the mark in helping me but i have a professional reason also because i realized at that time that if in 2010 i as a journalist and filmmaker had been presented with the material that he was presented with i would have had no hesitation whatsoever in broadcasting it in including it in a in a film that i was making in writing about it on a blog and could very easily have found myself in exactly the same situation that julian is in now i think the same probably applies to most of the filmmakers and journalists that i know jump forward 12 years and i would have some hesitation in making that move and making that information public because i would not want to spend the next 10 years fighting extradition proceedings to be sent to the united states for having exposed um truths that the united states doesn't want exposed i'd like to just say a couple of words about consular assistance um this expression crops up all of all of the time our prime minister our foreign minister and various different politicians say that julian is receiving consular assistance i can assure you from my own experience in jail that consular assistance amounts to in my case a toothbrush and a paperback book out of date copies of local newspapers and the delivery of mail and that is it right consular assistance does not exist in reality and i think that anybody else who's been in my situation could confirm that just briefly there was another prisoner in jail with me his name was um Giuseppe Nicolosi we called him zippy zippy was in the final months of his um three year sorry seven year uh sentence based on evidence that was as flimsy as mine in my case zippy became very very ill we in jail got messages to the australian embassy many messages um via this mobile phone this contraband mobile phone alerted in the embassy to the fact that zippy was very unwell and getting worse and needed to be in a hospital he needed to be airlifted back to australia actually to be an intensive care ward the australian embassy said it wasn't their problem it's nothing that they could do about it and cut a long story short zippy died of malnutrition and neglect in a hospital where he was he was taken to the hospital a day before he died two days before he died that is the extent to which our government assists australians who get into trouble whether they be julien assange or a backpacker the final the final point that i'd like to make has to do with um diplomatic intervention in my own case um after 15 months in jail i was found guilty of espionage and sentenced to six years a six year jail sentence three weeks later the guards appeared at my door and told me that i was being released immediately when i got out of jail i discovered shortly thereafter that malcolm turnbull our then prime minister had done a deal with hun sen the prime minister of cambodia whereby i'd be taken to trial and then released on a pardon after my trial in other words our prime minister agreed with cambodia's prime minister that i would be found guilty there was no question that i might be found innocent and that i would then receive a pardon my concern now is that a similar kind of deal might occur behind the scenes whereby it appears as though the australian government is doing the right thing by julien but in actual fact he spends the next two three four or five years waiting for the pardon to come through which really needs to come through immediately finally i have actually written yesterday and this morning to um president joe biden and to carol and kennedy our new ambassador the u.s new ambassador to australia and through the magic of google i've managed to find the words of both joe biden and john f kennedy carol and kennedy's father in which and you can google them and find them yourself uh in which they espouse the very same values that julien espouses as a journalist and yet he is in jail for articulating the need for freedom of sorry freedom of the press for freedom of information for the public to be informed about what goes on behind the scenes even if it is embarrassing to the government's concerned so along with everybody else here today i hope that um anthony albany's you can pick up the phone and say to joe i know it's difficult for you politically it's difficult for me politically also but this is a matter of principle and we need to put politics aside and send julien back to his family and back to australia thank you thank you james uh we're now going to hear a message from julien's brother gabriel shipton gabriel and his father john have been traveling the world uh raising awareness of julien's plight julien's health and following that we'll hear from julien hill who wanted to be with us today but couldn't get away from government business up on the hill uh and then finally kathryn kelly from the alliance against political prosecutions for the past month and a half john shipton julien's dad and i have been on the road advocating for julien's release we started in the usa where we met with civil society groups who have been calling on the biden administration to drop the charges against julien because of the threat they pose to press freedom similarly in washington dc we met with congresspeople both republican and democrat to see the threat that julien's prosecution means to their first amendment and their democratic rights in germany we met with a cross party group that includes parliamentarians from every major german political party over 90 german parliamentarians are now calling for julien assange to be released we even met with the german foreign ministry we met with the state minister there is the second in charge after the foreign minister so germany are very concerned even the german government are very concerned about the threat julien assange's prosecution means to their journalists in the uk we have traveled all around the country with stellar assange julien's wife as we did q and a screenings with the film ithica that's about john and stellar's fight to free julien we screened the film and spoke to people in norwich in liverpool in manchester in glasgoe in edinburgh in exeter all over the uk we spoke to thousands of people all concerned about what's going on and the persecution of julien assange there is a global wave of support for julien that just keeps growing and growing and growing and everyone here today is part of that wave next week john and i will be in cambera and we will be asking the government to really step up their calls for julien assange to be released and for the biden administration to drop the charges the alliance against political prosecutions is appalled at the treatment of award-winning journalist julien assange it is clear that julien assange did not commit an espionage he published material provided to him about war crimes committed in iraq in 2010 about quedantanamu bay afghanistan and other things we had a right to know about what else could he have done surely we don't encourage people to keep silent about crimes but since publication he has suffered extreme persecution with the time in the ecuadorian embassy and in belmarch prison where he remains to this day it is close to 10 years that he has not seen freedom he has suffered isolation deteriorating physical and mental health and torture as assessed by the un special repertoire on torture newls melzer for a man not convicted of any crime this is extreme injustice and inhumanity which is clearly seriously adversely affecting his health julien's prosecution is a great danger to press freedom and human rights everywhere the assurances given by the u.s. government about his treatment in u.s prisons cannot be relied upon and should not be relied upon since he has not committed any crime we urge prime minister albany to put an end to this persecution of an innocent courageous man and to speak loudly and clearly to the uk and u.s. governments to free julien and drop all the charges if the friendship between our countries cannot stand that what is it worth julien assange must be free thank you julien hill for coming to the hill can you answer a few questions about julien assange the first question that i would have for you is in relation to the letter sent by doctors for assange which is a group of over 300 doctors now to the uk home secretary pretty patelle pointing out that we have a problem now with the u.s. assurances they were made the doctor say in relation to a prior health condition which was mental health and since then on the 27th of october he had a minor stroke and the doctors are all saying that this is more often than not a sign that a major one is on the way this has never been discussed in the courts and even though it happened when he was attending his appeal he was in bel march prison but i'm pretty sure they had view on him and mary costa cletus and i saw him all of the journalists had view on him so this is a real problem because one of the expert witnesses yancy ellis said that in the william g true stale alexandria adult attention center or a dc where ellis said julien will most likely go there are no doctors and no real medical facility while one of the doctors for assange former surgeon dr after chester field even said that if he has a major stroke he will need and jillstein backed that up also a general practitioner that he will need emergency room treatment for a very dangerous and delicate procedure within three hours now julien is locked up for 22 hours a day in isolation and he has this stroke he may not even have a chance of being discovered and according to dr after chester field evans after four and a half hours it's really not worth it there would be no chance of recovery what are we going to do about this situation julien look thanks kathy and i want to thank everyone who it continues to speak up for julien assange and defend the principles that we're fighting for in particular speaking up for press freedom and pushing back on what this is a blatant attempt to do which is a chill the free press i also want to acknowledge the many community activists community leaders and community organizations that continue to put in effort around australia but in other western democracies and the efforts of the 300 doctors i received that material some weeks ago and i have forwarded it on within the government it is deeply concerning and i like many australians were appalled at the british court's decision to approve extradition overturning the initial decision and deeply disappointed though sadly not surprised by pretty but tell the uk home secretaries approval of the extradition extradition is always in democratic systems of political judgment to make ultimately and extradition in my view a principal view should not be approved for what are inherently political crimes and their matters of principle which i've stated before now i understand the reasons from speaking to his legal team why julien has to date rejected consular assistance from the australian government it may be time that that position is reconsidered because it is frankly very difficult for the government of australia to get involved in these issues and try and seek assurances and push for assurances around health issues when consular assistance has been rejected i'm not meaning that to be an inflammatory comment it's just a statement of fact and i do understand why to date and their consular assistance has not been taken up and why there hasn't been trust in that process but the medical evidence is deeply worrying about his current health conditions and it would be appropriate for the government should we be allowed to do so under the consular assistance banner to get involved and seek greater assurances around the conditions in which he's currently being kept and any future conditions around medical treatment that's what i'd like to see i'm sorry to be clear what i would like to see is the prosecution dropped extradition not approved in the matter brought to a close and the australian government has been cleared before and since the election that the case is dragged on for long enough and that the matter should be brought to a close they were words enough is enough that the now prime minister anthony albernesi have used before the election and we continue so i'm assured to express the government's view to the uk and the us about our position thank you julian hill my second question concerns an article in declassified australia by the lawyer kelly tranter who submitted freedom of information request to the attorney general department and she received documents regarding a prisoner transfer protocol there was a lot of stuff that was redacted in what she was handed back and that was in relation to key risks and mitigations what we could see there really principally concerned what happens after julian is extradited goes through perhaps 10 years of the appeals process and finally we don't want this to happen but if he gets convicted then there is some kind of loose agreement that he would be allowed to apply to serve a sentence in australia where america would dictate how long he is imprisoned here now we are very concerned about what's hidden behind this black rectangle of redaction the question that kelly tranter poses is she would hope that one of the key risks is suicide in fact that's the one that she draws attention to she also puts in a quotation from professor koppelman who was one of the expert witnesses for the defense he's a world renowned psychiatrist and so was another one professor quentin dealie however there were two other expert witnesses on the prosecution side and all four were in agreement that assange presented a moderate to high risk of suicide not in the us but in the uk what was stated in the quotation from koppelman and this is something that i've been aware of because and mary costaketus as well because we have been in the courtroom for the last two years we remember very clearly this being said and this troubling me for some time that once julian's extradition became imminent imminent he would find a way to complete his suicide and this view was accepted by the magistrate venezia beretta from the lower court now the problem is and kelly tranter points out that because these assurances are about conditions in the united states they are immaterial if he's going to commit suicide in the uk if he never makes it out of there so what can we do about this oh sorry i'd just like to add something to that there is an application to the office of the information commissioner to have the redacted material released now one reason that i think that that should be approved is that how can we have a guarantee given the complexity of this case it's duration the avalanche of misinformation that has surrounded julian and the case for the last 10 years how can we be confident we as journalists who are pretty well expert in the case now how can we be confident that our diplomats have been well or accurately informed about this shouldn't the office of the information commissioner say yes to scrutiny even if it's by a limited number of people who are given clearance for that purpose just to make sure just to do the fact checking that's all the reports regarding julian's health and the concerns professional concerns by multiple psychiatrists now regarding his welfare and potential suicide suicidal ideation or indeed actions are gravely concerning they're concerning i think to any decent human being and caring australian and also no concern within the government to be clear again i don't want to see him extradited i don't want to see this prosecution dropped and the australian government wants to see this matter brought to a close that's our firm position as i noted earlier there's limits to the extent to which we can engage in detail on his behalf in relation to health and consular concerns given his refused consular assistance and i understand the reasons for that and there are limits at this stage in a legal sense because australia and the australian government are not parties to the case that's just a fact it's not an avoidance of responsibility statement i'm not trying to avoid the question but it's also a fact that the australian government is not the party to the case and that ultimately we can make representations as we have but we cannot force or stop the extradition or the prosecution and that goes to diplomatic efforts and so on with regard to those documents i had a look at them i thought that much to the article and analyzing the context was very robust i thought some of the framing was probably a little bit a little bit over the top and it's entirely normal the documents are released according to the fli laws my overriding concern is that those decisions are made according to the law and are made properly and quickly and don't drag on for months or years as we've seen too often with the former government yeah could you be a little bit more specific about what bring this matter to a close actually means there's multiple ways as i've maybe i'll reference some of the media reporting that i've seen which i think is well covered it and as i've said i would like to see the uk decline the extradition and not agree to extradite him and i would like to see the us drop the prosecution there's multiple ways in which that could happen and as i said this is an unfortunately realist observation and it's not a new observation there observations have been made in speeches before the election in media interviews and in our private discussions within the parliament i think this is recognised Australia is not a party to the case and ultimately we cannot force the uk or the us to cease the trajectory that they're on we can try but we can't force it they're just facts now i understand and i've seen the community commentary that would like the prime minister to speak more publicly about the contents of his private conversations and efforts i've seen many people would like us all to scream from the rooftops i think it's entirely appropriate that people are gathering outside the parliament that around the country we continue to see week after week people coming taking to the streets standing outside government buildings speaking up in the press in favour of assange i really do i also think it's appropriate given we know the prime minister's position on this issue he's been clear internally and externally i also think it's appropriate and i trust his judgment about the best way to prosecute these things and his judgment at the moment is that quiet diplomacy making clear our position to partners and allies around the world and other governments is the most likely way to achieve a result now i won't put words in the prime minister's mouth i want to be really clear that's not what i'm doing but i have seen a number of media reports in recent weeks which i think had a lot to offer in terms of insight into the difficulties and the barriers particularly with the u.s system i think you've made the point kathy quite rightly that this is a political case it's a political decision to extradite and we've conveyed our view to the u.k government regarding that and it's also a political decision in the u.s and i think highly politically charged matter there was some sensible i think media commentary over the last few weeks identifying difficulties or barriers or roadblocks that make this case particularly tricky to resolve within the u.s in the short term one is president biden's stated priority on leaving the justice department to be independent and so there's a very high threshold if you like for him to jump to intervene given his public statements on many other matters for him to just direct the justice department to drop a prosecution again that's a fact which has been reported by pretty credible analysts and i think we should give it weight and understand that given the political rhetoric that president biden has put around not behaving like president trump and making political interventions and prosecutions that's a difficulty which needs to be resolved and i think the australian government's judgment is probably right from what i can see from the outside that difficulty or delicacy may not be aided by loud screechy diplomacy the other observation that's been made again by i think it was joe hockey is the former ambassador and a number of sort of washington um literate people far more than you and i kathy is the timing is always an issue with these things and that the mid-term elections are coming up there's very strongly held views about julian um down on capitol hill and those much more wise are in closer than you and i have observed that the timing question would also be delicate before the midterms and the third the third observation i'd make and i'm someone who's made the point repeatedly that chelsea manning the person who leaked the classified documents was pardoned had a sentence commuted whereas asange has now been incarcerated for longer i would observe also as the media have said that her sentence was commuted after a legal process and a guilty prosecution and that's a view which some parts of the us establishment we've seen in public reports and dispatches in the media have been raising as well so i think those those issues give you a sense of some of the barriers and again i just need to be clear i'm not party to the discussions i'm not a member of the cabinet i'm a backbencher with a set of principal views um but i think that some of the media reporting there has pointed to some of the difficulties and probably starts to make sense of why the prime minister's taken the view that this is best prosecuted in the way he's doing so to leave the american system maximum room to move and to close in answer to your question therefore there's a number of ways that this matter could be brought to a close cathy but they're not within our control yeah well timing is pretty sensitive it's been a decade and we were just quite worried that he may not last for that much longer he's very frail and there's another upsurge of more dangerous covered in the uk it's horribly concerning the media reports the health reports the assessment by the doctors is horribly concerning and underscores the urgency of bringing this matter to a close and releasing him from incarceration in those conditions that's what i want to hear that that's how we bring it to a close that's my view cathy very clearly i get it julien you're probably the person who's the most well informed about julien's case look i just maybe you know i've used a lot of words there i'll just sort of sum it up in in simple terms many of us feel so strongly about this issue in civil society and in the parliament and certainly the labour caucus and resolving it is not fully within our power that's just the fact of life i wish it were i wish it were and those barriers which i've tried to point to in a sort of a measured thoughtful way because i've been giving this a lot of thought you know with others working on the campaign what are the barriers what could we do as a global community people working in other countries i've had discussions with people from the uk and elsewhere what could we do to try and resolve some of those questions and you know people who've thought about this deeply have observed there are real barriers in the justice department intervention issue in the issue about pardons versus commutes versus dropping sentences and of course with the timing of the midterms this is all caught up in the US political system i wish it were otherwise so sometimes these things become a question of approach and timing i was just wondering um have you seen what's behind those rectangles of redaction have you any knowledge of what's been said just because i wondered if one of the key risks with julian is that he would go back to work and start revealing things again as you've heard me say before and answer the questions like that gathie i'm not doing hypotheticals and i'm not going to speculate i have no knowledge no you haven't seen it okay can i just can i just make one other point from a former life as a public servant that um from the outside there's often conspiracy theory or innocence or stuff up and i've found in life you're always better to back innocence or stuff up because conspiracy theory is very very rare i do have it i'll put this on the record i do have great faith from all of my dealings over many years now with the professionalism of the department of foreign affairs and the insight and intelligence that they bring to their task and i mean that that in the broadest sense of intelligence in every sense so i've got no reason to doubt that the advice they're giving is the best that they can possibly give well based on the information that they've been given and that's one of my concerns that they may have been misled um we don't know and we can't know unless the office of information commissioner will agree to let at least some people see and fact track what's in there can i just move to the us now so there's almost a ray of sunshine here there have been some proposed changes to the espionage act by squad members resheda talib and elano ma and these changes limit who the espionage act applies to it's basically government employees who have signed a contract or a no that they're not allowed to tell certain information is secret and they engage legally to keep it a secret but not journalists so this is one of the changes and there is another clause that reason to believe is changed to you must have specific intent to harm national security and the most interesting one i find is that information must have been properly classified now under obama's executive order of 2009 it's executive order 13526 section 1.7 it is illegal to classify anything that conceals violations of law in efficiency or administrative error or which just simply prevents embarrassment to a person or organization or agency or even to prevent the release of information needlessly in a so-called interest of national security in accordance with this law talib proposes an affirmative public interest defense for the purpose of disclosing misdeeds to the public the espionage act is currently a matter of strict liability but we can't assume that everyone behind closed doors is innocent or simply incompetent now my goodness there's only two of them so far unless there's a few more that have joined but that last one about information being properly classified there is a problem of over classification two in fact one that there is far too much that is classified and the other one is that wiki leaks actually did pick the things that that's what they published stuff that was mainly illegally classified what do you think about this and how can we actually promote the idea i know it's an american question but would the australian government make representations that they straighten out their espionage act to stop charging journalists because journalists would not be charged under these new amendments yeah i i'm no expert on the u.s espionage or legal framework and as i think you implicitly acknowledge there um the australian um lawmaking system intelligence architecture and legislative architecture and indeed the laws themselves are fundamentally different from the u.s system um they're a presidential system with two co branches of government hence a lot of the legislative architectures just fundamentally different because it also goes to the relationship between congress and the administration um so i i don't think i'm in a position to comment on in any great detail and it would be highly unusual for the australian government to be advocating specific legal changes one way or the other or getting involved in the legislative system of another country are we going that way too though in you know being too draconian about what people are entitled to know well i think as i said before there's a freedom of information regime in australia which labor put in place we've been very critical in opposition regarding the resourcing in particular in the time taken to make those decisions and i'd hope to see that we can make prompt a fairer decisions there will always be things this should not be a radical statement particularly in the security area that we're living through threats of terrorism and so on and not are not fantasies of the intelligence agency sadly as we've seen so often in the world and they're real there will always be things that cannot be revealed publicly there will always be a need for some government secrets the question of course is where you draw that line and making sure that things are done according to the law that applies so i think that our commitment to making the FOI ratio and work is important as is strong and ongoing oversight of the intelligence agencies in the security sector in that regard australia's intelligence the iGIS the inspector general of intelligence and security is a critical institution with the powers of a standing royal commission to oversight those agencies and to date i think the appointments to that position have been exemplary as is the commitment to the independent national security legislation monitor which again is something that the former government questioned and there were moves to try and wind back or use at that office and that we're committed to you can see in our national platform and this builds in previous parliaments introduced by penny wong and others of a commitment to robust oversight of the intelligence agencies and that'll continue thank you very much to lin hill