On the same day many Australians were concerned about the latest inflation data revealing a growing likelihood of a rate hike in August, the Prime Minister welcomed home convicted felon and former fugitive Julian Assange.
Later that night, when many of us were glued to our television screens watching the State of Origin contest between New South Wales and Queensland – trying to get Australia’s worryingly high and rising inflation out of our minds for a sporting respite – the Prime Minister was declaring victory after having orchestrated Assange’s return.
“We did it,” he declared proudly.
Anthony Albanese made the first call to Assange. US Ambassador Kevin Rudd and British High Commissioner Stephen Smith, both former Labor politicians, accompanied Assange on his flight back to Australia.
Neither of them minded his return to the spotlight.
The spectacle was replete with the strategic release of images of the men enjoying catering on the private jet used to fly Assange home. As if the average Australian looks at everything with a sense of relief in these difficult times.
While most Australians probably didn’t notice the whole saga that unfolded yesterday and last night, those who took a more active interest might have wondered about the contempt for hypocrisy associated with the Prime Minister gloating about the liberation and Assange’s return home.
Particularly in the context of another Australian whistleblower recently sent to prison for leaking information about allegations of war crimes committed by the Australian SAS.
Julian Assange’s (pictured) homecoming was treated as a political success story by the Prime Minister, but has he become too linked to the convicted criminal?
Assange on a private jet to Australia with Kevin Rudd (centre, left) and former Labor Minister Stephen Smith (right)
Assange appears in the center with Stephen Smith (left), American lawyer Barry Pollack (second from left), lawyer Jen Robinson (second from right) and Kevin Rudd (far right).
Former army lawyer David McBride was sentenced to five years in prison just a month ago for exposing what was happening within the SAS.
The Labor government had the opportunity to intervene but decided not to and allowed McBride to be taken in handcuffs to jail in the country’s capital.
Many of the same people who supported Assange’s release and return have been advocating for a government pardon for McBride, including the Wikileaks founder’s wife, Stella. The pleas fell on deaf ears.
Perhaps the photo opportunities for McBride would not have been what they were to help Assange.
Having extolled the virtue of standing up for Australians to secure Assange’s release, the Prime Minister did not answer questions in his press conference about whether he considered Assange a journalist or not.
Most journalists don’t see it that way, even if they think Assange’s treatment has been an abomination.
If Assange were not a journalist, the parallels with McBride’s role in leaking confidential information in the public interest would only become stronger. In fact, McBride is by far the more virtuous of the two.
Stella Assange poses for a photograph of army whistleblower David McBride (above, together)
Former Prime Minister and now US Ambassador Kevin Rudd (right) with Julian Assange (left) enjoy the attention
Former Labor Minister and now British High Commissioner Stephen Smith (pictured) accompanied Assange on his return flight.
One has to wonder what the future will look like now that Assange is home. His wife says they want to lead a quiet life, at least for the foreseeable future.
The Prime Minister echoed that sentiment, demanding journalists give the man “privacy” as he re-establishes himself within Australian society, before Albo concluded his press conference, having seized the optics of successfully organizing the return of Assange.
The danger that Albo runs, having wrapped Assange and himself in the Australian flag for a united victory lap on his return home, is that the activist will (eventually) choose to lend his voice to causes that are going against the preferred positions of this government. .
Julian Assange (pictured), upon returning to Australia, raises his fist in victory. Labor wants credit for making it happen
Maybe in Palestine, for example, but who knows what other causes Assange could embrace. Perhaps those who align more clearly with the Greens than with the Labor government or the mainstream.
You can see some awkward moments on the horizon.
After all, much of what Assange said and did that got him into trouble on the world stage involved anti-Western and pro-Russian views and attitudes.
Does Albo think those feelings have changed? Don’t care, happy to seek praise for “doing the job” and take it home anyway?
Or has the Prime Minister simply not thought beyond the tip of his nose about how such moments might play out in the future? Having tried to generate as much attention as possible on Assange’s return after what would otherwise have been a difficult political time for this government.