New local petition to help free Assange

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Local petition to help Assange campaign

Central Coast residents working to stop the extradition of Australian Wikileaks publisher, Julian Assange, to the United States, are now collecting signatures on a new petition.

By Jacquelene Pearson

A group of Central Coast residents who are part of the Australia-wide campaign to stop the extradition to America of Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange, and secure his return to Australia, are aiming to get as many signatures as possible.

They will then present the petition to the Federal Member for Robertson, Dr Gordon Reid.

Dr Reid was due to meet with the group on December 7 but cancelled shortly before the agreed meeting time. The meeting was subsequently held the next day.

According to those residents in attendance, Dr Reid agreed to have a photo taken with the group only when ‘Free Assange’ campaign material was taken out of the shot.

“We understood him to be saying that, as a back bencher, it was his policy to prioritise representing the views of constituents who wrote to him in the greatest numbers about an issue,” said one meeting attendee.

“His estimation was that his constituency was around 50-50 on the issue [of stopping Assange’s extradition to the US].”

The petition calls upon Dr Reid to make immediate and urgent representations to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and to the American President, Congress and Parliament, to abide by Mr Assange’s Australian and American constitutional rights and implied rights to free political expression and communication as a citizen, journalist and publisher.

It asks Dr Reid to make representations to drop the politically motivated charges made against Assange after he exposed American war crimes.

According to the petition, the charges are against truth telling, free information and the press and “severely undermine democracy, the public’s faith in democracy and the authority, credibility and leadership of America, Australia and the West”.

“Approximately 80% of Australians believe Assange should be freed and so does most of the world,” the preamble to the new petition says.

“It is time, after 14 years, for Australian parliamentarians to at last act now to join the parliamentary groups speaking up about Assange in Australia, and to join with those increasing numbers in the US Congress and internationally who are speaking up,” the petition says.

If you are interested in assisting to gather signatures for this local petition, contact The Point.

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