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The Australian: National Affairs.
Kevin Rudd pledges Assange to get 'proper' consular help from Australia
- The Australian
- December 08, 2010
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange arrives at court in London. Picture: AP Source: AP
AUSTRALIA will "absolutely" give consular support to arrested WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange despite heavy criticism of his actions from the Gillard government.
Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd, who has today shrugged off embarassing assessments of his performance as prime minister in US cables released on WikiLeaks, stressed the government was doing "the proper thing to do for any Australian citizen".
Consular staff attended Mr Assange's court hearing in London overnight at which he was denied bail after British police arrested him on a Swedish warrant for alleged rape.
Over the past week Julia Gillard has stated that Mr Assange acted illegally in publishing classified cables on Wikileaks, while Attorney-General Robert McClelland has condemned leaks that could "seriously impact the national security of the United States and its allies, including Australia".
But Mr Rudd today stressed the government would "absolutely" be supporting Mr Assange and ensuring his legal rights were protected.
"I'm the Foreign Minister of Australia and I'm responsible for the consular wellbeing of all Australians and, therefore, I just want to make it absolutely clear that, first of all, Mr Assange has contacted the Australian Consul-General in London and asked for consular support.
"We have confirmed that we'll provide that, as we'd do for all Australian citizens.
"We'll be providing him with a letter soon which indicates we'll be prepared to provide consular visits and any other level of consular support concerning his wellbeing and his legal rights. That is the proper thing to do for any Australian citizen.
"What we do with Australians in strife anywhere in the world is that we take the view that our responsibility is to ensure the consular rights and legal rights of all Australians abroad are protected. And that includes Mr Assange."
While he dodged repeated questions on comments made by the Prime Minister about WikiLeaks' legal status, Mr Rudd did say the Swedish charges went ``to a different range of matters'' from anything WikiLeaks had done.
Mr Assange, 39, has vehemently denied the Swedish charges.
``The question of how the British courts conduct their business is a matter for the people ... in the United Kingdom,'' Mr Rudd said.
``The range of specific charges against Mr Assange emanating from the Swedish courts I am not in a position to comment on that, nor would I comment.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said the Australian Consul-General in London spoke to Mr Assange by telephone yesterday "to ensure his welfare and that he had legal representation".
Mr Assange will be remanded in custody until his next court appearance, scheduled for December 14.
Greens leader Bob Brown said this morning that more needed to be done to assist Mr Assange other than the provision of consular assistance.
And he called on the government to release evidence that it was doing all it could to ensure Mr Assange would not be extradited to Sweeden and then to the US.
“There needs to be more than consular staff keeping a watch on what is going on.”
“You can bet that the US and many other consulates were represented in the court as well.
"What we need from the Foreign Minister or the Attorney-General is very clear evidence that the Australian government is materially assisting to ensure that Assange’s legal rights are met and that everything’s done to ensure that he is not fitted out with a process to have him extradited to Sweden and then to the US.” ---Additional reporting: AAP
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