The father of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has touted the possible election of a Labor government as a “great opportunity” for the movement to free the WikiLeaks founder from imprisonment.
Speaking at a Sydney Q&A screening of documentary Ithaka, which documents his efforts to free Assange, John Shipton said a groundswell of parliamentarian support was growing for his son’s plight and he was buoyed up by the prospect of an incoming Labor government.
“Of course things would change [if Labor were elected] … this is a great opportunity for us,” he said.
“A fresh parliament has a lot of room to move … I speak to many of them. They don’t want this hanging around their neck like an albatross.”
Shipton said he had had several lunches with Anthony Albanese, and had been assured the opposition leader would do “whatever he can” to free his son and “enough’s enough”.
The 76-year-old said when he began advocating for Assange in 2019, two parliamentarians supported him – independent MP Andrew Wilkie and Greens senator for Tasmania Peter Whish-Wilson.
“Now there are 29 and peripherally, there are other supporters,” he said.
“The deputy prime minister while in the US … said publicly … that Julian ought to be charged if he’s done anything in the UK … other than that, send him home.
“There’s a core in the Labor party, there’s a core in the National party, the Greens are all supporting [Julian] … it’s a popular concern and parliamentarians recognise that.”
In December, Liberal backbenchers Jason Falinski and Bridget Archer called for diplomatic action to secure Assange’s return to Australia after Barnaby Joyce said it was unfair the US wanted to extradite him to face prosecution over actions allegedly not committed inside the US.
There are currently 25 members of the Assange parliamentary group, including nine Greens, eight Labor, four independents or crossbench and four from the Coalition: Joyce, Bridget Arthur, Jason Falinski and Nationals MP George Christensen.
Appearing alongside Assange’s brother and producer of Ithaka, Gabriel Shipton, and director, Ben Lawrence, Shipton said the Australian government had “no leverage” on an international scale while Assange remained imprisoned.
“They want to be able to say to people when they travel overseas that they look after Australians, they repaired the problems of Julian Assange’s persecution,” he said.
“He’s morally destroyed, physically destroyed … the continuation of policy which might merely be acquiescence over the unfolding of time becomes complicit. It’s inescapable, and cruel, and demotes ourselves, but we can fix it.”
Filmed across the UK, Europe and the US, Ithaka follows the two-year struggle of John Shipton, a retired builder, and Assange’s wife, Stella Moris, to free Assange from US government efforts to try him in connection with WikiLeaks’ publication of hundreds of thousands of leaked documents about the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, as well as diplomatic cables.
Shipton began seriously advocating for Assange at 73 years of age, after expressing initial unease at interacting with the media. He has a well-documented, complicated relationship with his son, absent from Assange’s life after the age of three and reconnecting with him in his 20s.
Ithaka – the name of the film – comes from the title of Greek poet C.P. Cavafy’s epic poem which evokes the first step of a meaningful, lifelong journey.
Assange’s brother, Gabriel Shipton, said the idea for the documentary was sparked by a visit with his brother in 2019. Assange had recently been transferred to British prison Belmarsh after US legal action to extradite him to face trial on espionage charges.
Since being transferred to the high-security prison, Assange’s physical and mental health significantly declined.
“I went … to see him and Julian was being kept in ‘the hell wing’ of the prison … for the most desperately suicidal … they were basically kept in their cells 23 hours a day,” Gabriel Shipton said.
“I left the prison that day thinking I’d never seen him like that, and I felt I wouldn’t see him again.
“I started to think what can I do … and one way … was telling a different side of the story. We learn about Julian through the headlines … and see him in interviews but we don’t understand him through the eyes of the people who love him.”
Last month, Assange’s case edged closer to a US trial on espionage charges after the UK’s highest court refused to hear his appeal against extradition.
A spokesperson for Anthony Albanese said there was no further comment from his office as the opposition leader’s support for Assange was a matter of public record.
