Australia

Blinken Slams Door On Australian Bid For Julian Assange’s Freedom

July 30, 2023 Joe Lauria, Consortium News. Educate! Antony Blinken, Australia, Julian Assange, Press Freedom

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has publicly rebuffed efforts by the Australian government to free WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange. Speaking at a press conference with Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong in Brisbane on Saturday, Blinken said he understood Australians’ concerns about their imprisoned citizen, but took a hard line against any move to end his persecution. Blinken said: “I really do understand and can certainly confirm what Penny said about the fact that this matter was raised with us, as it has been in the past. And I understand the sensitivities. I understand the concerns and views of Australians. I think it’s very important that our friends here understand our concerns about this matter."

Australian Prime Minister Should Keep Up The Pressure On Washington

July 10, 2023 John Kiriakou, CovertAction Magazine. Educate! Australia, Extradition, Julian Assange, Press Freedom

When I was at the CIA, I was taught that David Hicks was a very bad man. As a teenager in Australia, I was told, his school principal once called him “one of the most troublesome kids.” He was expelled from school at the age of 14 and began using alcohol, and drugs. He was particularly fond of stealing cars, according to a former partner. He was later accused of beating his girlfriend, although no charges were ever filed. In 1999, Hicks converted to Islam and began studying the faith’s fundamentalist Wahhabi strain at a Saudi-funded mosque in Adelaide, Australia.

Thousands Rally Across Australia In Support Of Indigenous Reform

July 2, 2023 Al Jazeera. Create! Australia, Constitution, Indigenous Rights, Voting

Thousands of people have rallied in cities and towns across Australia to back a campaign to recognise the country’s Indigenous people in the constitution in advance of a referendum later this year. The gatherings on Sunday, organised by the Yes23 campaign, were part of a nationwide “day of action” to rally the public after a recent dip in support for the constitutional change. The proposal, which will be put up for a referendum between October and December, seeks to establish an advisory body – the Indigenous Voice to Parliament – to give Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people a direct say in policies that affect them.

Biden Missing, But Assange Sydney Rally Goes On

May 25, 2023 Consortium News. Resist! Australia, Extradition, Joe Biden, Julian Assange, Press Freedom

Joe Biden was due in Sydney Wednesday where he’s facing increased pressure to let Julian Assange go. Biden cancelled the trip but a rally in Hyde Park sent him the message anyway. Stella Assange, Scott Ludlum, John Shipton, Gabriel Shipton, David McBride and Stephen Kenny addressed the rally Wednesday morning. Stella Assange, on her first trip to Australia, vowed that she would return with a liberated Julian Assange and their children to his home country.

Australian MPS Meet US Envoy Caroline Kennedy On Assange

May 9, 2023 Joe Lauria, Consortium News. Resist! Australia, Criminal Justice and Prisons, Extradition, Julian Assange

A cross party delegation of Australian legislators met on Tuesday morning in Canberra with Caroline Kennedy, the U.S. ambassador, to discuss the continued U.S. prosecution of imprisoned WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange. U.S. President Joe Biden is due in Australia in two weeks as the pressure continues to mount on him from presidents, parliaments, the public and human rights and press freedom groups to free Assange. The Sydney Morning Herald quoted Senator Andrew Wilkie, who took part in the meeting with Kennedy, as saying: “This is an intensely important time with the US President about to visit. It would be very unhelpful if he comes to Australia and this issue is still unresolved, it will hang over us all in an uncomfortable way.” “The US and Australia have a very important and close relationship, and it’s time to demonstrate that,” Wilkie said.

New Defence Review Further Enslaves Australia To US War Agendas

April 25, 2023 Caitlin Johnstone. Educate! Australia, China, US Hegemony, Wars and Militarism

The Australian government has released the declassified version of its highly anticipated 2023 Defence Strategic Review (DSR), and the war propagandists are delighted. Sydney Morning Herald’s Matthew Knott, most well-known for being told by former prime minister Paul Keating to “do the right thing and drum yourself out of Australian journalism” over his role in Nine Entertainment’s despicable Red Alert war-with-China propaganda series, has a new propaganda piece out titled “Defence review pulls no punches: China the biggest threat we face“.

Politicians Demand US Drop Assange Charges On Anniversary Of Arrest

April 14, 2023 Kevin Gosztola, The Dissenter. Resist! Australia, Brazil, Criminal Justice and Prisons, Julian Assange, Mexico, United Kingdom (UK), Whistleblowers

Elected politicians in Australia, Brazil, Mexico, and the United Kingdom signed on to letters to United States Attorney General Merrick Garland demanding that the Justice Department drop the charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. A letter of opposition signed by four members of the U.S. House of Representatives, including Representative Rashida Tlaib, who initiated the letter, was prepared. However, it had not yet been sent to Garland at the time of publication. The letters were timed to mark the fourth anniversary of Assange’s arrest and detention. On April 11, 2019, Ecuador President Lenin Moreno expelled Assange from the country’s London embassy.

Assange Completes Four Years In United Kingdom Jail

April 13, 2023 Anish R M, People's Dispatch. Resist! Australia, Criminal Justice and Prisons, Julian Assange, Whistleblowers

April 11 marks four years since Julian Assange was forcibly dragged out of the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2019 and put under arrest. Ever since his imprisonment, the Wikileaks founder has spent much of his time in the high-security prison in Belmarsh under judicial remand, without any charges or conviction, fighting a prolonged extradition process. The extradition request from the United States began under the administration of former president Donald Trump, and continues under the present Joe Biden administration. From recent revelations, it is understood that the US attempt to prosecute Assange has been going on since at least the Barack Obama administration.

Protest At Australian Nuke Sub Port

April 6, 2023 Cathy Vogan, Consortium News. Resist! AUKUS, Australia, Nuclear Weapons, Protests, Wars and Militarism

Under the AUKUS plan, Australia would pay the U.S. and Britain to the build and deliver three nuclear submarines by the early 2030s to the Port of Kembla in the city of Wollongong, 85 kms south of Sydney. Opponents of the plan, including the former Prime Minister Paul Keating, say China poses no military threat to Australia, but rather that the U.S. is leading Australia into a dangerous provocation against China.

Iraq Invasion, AUKUS Blasted In Rousing Sydney Rally

March 22, 2023 Consortium News. Resist! AUKUS, Australia, China, New Cold War, Wars and Militarism

A week after Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese agreed in a meeting in San Diego with President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to spend A$368 billion to buy nuclear submarines from the two countries, anti-war activists met in a sweltering Sydney town hall on Sunday on the 20th anniversary of the start of the war against Iraq to hear why the submarine deal is a disaster for Australia that must be stopped. Greens Party Senator David Shoebridge, former foreign minister Bob Carr, retired diplomat Alison Broinowski and Colin Powell’s former chief of staff, Lawrence Wilkinson (via video hook-up from Virginia), told the rally that an aggressive United States was dragging Australia into an unnecessary conflict with its main trading partner, China, a country which posed no threat.

US And Britain’s Submarine Deal Crosses Nuclear Red Lines

March 19, 2023 Prabir Purkayastha, Struggle La Lucha. Educate! AUKUS, Australia, Britain, Nuclear Weapons, Wars and Militarism

The recent Australia, U.S., and UK $368 billion deal on buying nuclear submarines has been termed by Paul Keating, a former Australian prime minister, as the “worst deal in all history.” It commits Australia to buy conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines that will be delivered in the early 2040s. These will be based on new nuclear reactor designs yet to be developed by the UK. Meanwhile, starting from the 2030s, “pending approval from the U.S. Congress, the United States intends to sell Australia three Virginia class submarines, with the potential to sell up to two more if needed”.

Majority Of Australians Oppose US War On China

March 14, 2023 Peter Cronau, Consortium News. Educate! Australia, China, New Cold War, Public Opinion, Wars and Militarism

A majority of Australians (51 percent) want Australia to adopt a policy of neutrality when it comes to considering a U.S. war against China, according to the latest polling by the Lowy Institute think tank. The poll, conducted in 2022, reinforces earlier polling by the Lowy Institute that found most Australians, while happy to support military involvement in humanitarian interventions or peacekeeping, do not want the country to support U.S. military action in a war against China – and the number of Australians saying this is increasing each year polled (2020 63 percent, up from 2013 60 percent). This runs contrary to mainstream media representations of such polling

US, UK, Australia Unveil AUKUS Nuclear-powered Submarine Deal

March 14, 2023 Dave DeCamp, News From Antiwar.com. Educate! AUKUS, Australia, Nuclear Weapons, United Kingdom (UK), Wars and Militarism

On Monday, the US, Britain, and Australia unveiled their plans to develop nuclear-powered submarines under AUKUS, a military pact the three countries signed in September 2021 to coordinate on advanced military technology against China. President Biden, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese formally announced the plans at the US Naval Base Point Loma in San Diego. The ultimate goal is for Australia to begin producing a new type of nuclear-powered submarine known as SSN-AUKUS, but that isn’t expected to happen until the 2040s.

US Navy Wants To Turn Australia Into A Full-Service Submarine Hub

March 11, 2023 Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com. Educate! Australia, Nuclear submarine, US Imperialism, Wars and Militarism

The US Navy wants a full-service submarine hub in Australia that can oversee all underwater activity in the Asia Pacific, including production and repairs, Defense News reported Thursday. The report cited comments from Navy Secretary Carlos del Toro, whose vision will be possible under AUKUS, the military pact signed between the US, Britain, and Australia in 2021 as part of an effort to build alliances against China. AUKUS focuses on technology-sharing and will give Australia access to American and British nuclear-powered submarine technologies. Del Toro said that AUKUS is about “being able to repair our submarines much further out, being able to build them in Australia as well, too, and create that much more presence in the Indo-Pacific where we need it the most.”

Australia — Silent Collaborator Against Assange

March 8, 2023 Kellie Tranter, Consortium News. Educate! Australia, Criminal Justice and Prisons, Extradition, Julian Assange

The significance of the Belmarsh Tribunal could not be greater, and not only for Julian Assange and his family. We have reached a critical point in history for press freedom, and for all human rights intertwined with it. Julian Assange once said: I understood this a few years ago. And my view became that we should understand that Australia is part of the United States. It is part of this English-speaking Christian empire, the centre of gravity of which is the United States, the second centre of which is the United Kingdom, and Australia is a suburb in that arrangement. And therefore we shouldn’t go, ‘It’s completely hopeless, its completely lost. Australian sovereignty, we are never going to get that back. We can’t control the big regulatory structure which we’re involved in in terms of strategic alliances, mass surveillance, and so on.’

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