WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange received a hero’s welcome before returning to his native Australia on Wednesday after pleading guilty to felony charges of violating U.S. espionage laws.
Australian politicians have issued statements supporting the plea deal that won him freedom. The current Australian ambassador to the United States and former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd even came with him to the U.S. court on the Pacific island of Saipan.
It seems fitting that Assange’s case ends in a far-flung outpost – the capital of the Northern Mariana Islands, a commonwealth linked to the United States through imperialism after World War II.
Fourteen years ago, he released classified military and diplomatic documents that revealed secret details about U.S. espionage and the killing of civilians during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, ending a standoff with the U.S. government far from Washington.
He was a controversial figure at the time—to some a courageous journalist, to others a reckless anarchist who put Americans in danger. His views became even more polarized during the 2016 presidential election when WikiLeaks released thousands of emails from the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee stolen by Russian hackers.
But after serving five years in a British prison, getting married and having a child, Assange became a more attractive figure to Australians. Along the way, he becomes a loser forced to endure the wrath of a superpower, and in a land settled by criminals, he becomes a rebel who has accomplished his mission and deserves to go home.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the court process for Assange’s release was a “welcome development”.
“It’s something that’s been done thoughtfully, patiently and in a calibrated way, and that’s how Australia conducts itself internationally,” he said on Wednesday.
“Whatever you think of Mr. Assange’s activities,” he added, “his case has dragged on for too long.”
Critics say this response lacks introspection. It ignores that Australia’s own espionage laws are among the toughest in the democratic world, with penalties of up to 25 years in prison, and that protections for journalism are weak. It also sidesteps the Albanian government’s continued resistance to greater transparency in public records and its failure to strengthen whistleblower protection laws, despite frustration over several secret cases.
Johan Lidberg, an associate professor of journalism at Melbourne’s Monash University who has worked with the United Nations on global press freedom issues, said he was surprised by Assange’s broad political support. He has somehow temporarily united Green and Labor MPs and Conservative leaders. But how?
Lidberg said Australia began to sympathize with Assange after 2016, when he was dragged from the Ecuadorian embassy and jailed at Belmarsh Prison in southeast London at President Trump’s urging.
“His case went from hacking, journalism, publishing, propaganda to a humanitarian issue,” he said. “This may be the Australian myth of ‘fair play’ coming into play. It can be seen that he was not treated fairly and was mistreated.
The desire to protect accountable journalism – which many Americans fear Assange’s conviction would send a threatening message to journalists and sources – is not a major issue in Australia, where there is no constitutional right to free speech.
James Curran, professor of history at the University of Sydney and international affairs columnist, said Australians did not necessarily respect “the whole culture of secrecy and classified documents” as Americans did.
When Australian politicians from both parties traveled to Washington in October to lobby for Assange, they did not emphasize the need to protect the fourth estate.
“They highlight how China and Russia are using the Assange case as evidence of blatant hypocrisy in the West’s treatment of political prisoners,” Curran said. “This is really progressing in Washington.”
American law and order has lost some respect. Many Australians are now dissatisfied with the US criminal justice system, which they view as overly executive and punitive, with some states imposing the death penalty and most imposing lengthy prison terms.
“The problem is high incarceration rates, abuse of the plea bargain process and even the conduct of American police officers,” said Hugh White, a former Australian defense official who is now a professor of strategic studies at the Australian National University. “I think even fairly conservative people are skeptical that Assange will be treated ‘fairly’ at the hands of the Justice Department.”
When Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Australia last year for high-level defense talks in Brisbane, he was asked about Assange’s case and bristled at the idea that Assange was a victim of America’s capriciousness.
Standing on an outdoor podium flanked by military veterans, Blinken said he understood “the concerns and perspectives of Australians” but that “our friends here” understood Mr Assange’s “alleged role in one of the biggest compromises” role, which is very important” confidential information in our country’s history. “
To many Australians, his comments sounded defensive and condescending. Australia and the United States remain side-by-side allies, having fought side by side in past wars, and now the two countries are building a collective defense framework to deter potential Chinese aggression. But Blinken’s tone made Assange the face of another factor in Australia’s relationship with the United States: enduring ambivalence toward the idea of American exceptionalism.
“To some extent this is just a reflection of the ambivalence that great powers always have among their smaller satellites, but it’s more than that,” Mr White said.
He added that there was also some dissatisfaction among Anglo-centric conservative Australians with the replacement of the British Empire by the United States after World War II. Others believe that the United States is often too quick to ignore the concerns of its friends and continues to prosecute Mr. Assange. “The United States appears to be unreasonably vindictive,” he said.
Getting the US to back down – and listen with more humility – is something Australian politicians seem eager to celebrate. Like Mr Albanese, rural conservative MPs and Green Party liberals also applauded Mr Assange’s release. Rudd was so smiling when he appeared in court that he was mistaken for a defense lawyer.
However, their triumphant mood may still fade. Will Australia’s secrets be revealed in the next round of leaks? What if Mr Assange and WikiLeaks choose a side in the US election or the war in Ukraine that the majority of Australians do not support?
“WikiLeaks has arguably helped Trump and Putin more than anyone else, but put lives at risk,” Curran said. “It doesn’t really seem to be factoring into the debate in Australia.”
