Former NSW premier and foreign affairs minister Bob Carr has called on the Labor government to intervene in the case of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
Carr has written in the Sydney Morning Herald this morning and says prime minister Anthony Albanese should persuade United States president Joe Biden to release Assange, in the same way former president Barack Obama pardoned Chelsea Manning, who released classified information to WikiLeaks. At the same time, she was a US Army intelligence analyst.
Manning, the American who slipped the material to Assange, goes free. At the same time, the Australian who published it faces extradition, trial in Virginia, and the rest of his life in cruel confinement in a high-security prison, likely on the plains of Oklahoma.
In the context of Australia’s role as an ally – the heft we deliver for the US empire – a decision to let Assange walk free rates about five minutes of President Biden’s Oval Office attention.
Yet as it sinks lower on the list of democracies published by Freedom House, the battered American republic can teach the world a thing or two about its First Amendment right to freedom of expression.
Its claim to be a nation of laws is stronger if Assange, this dissident publisher, has the threat of extradition lifted. If he were sentenced to die in jail, The New York Times and Washington Post would suffer a precedent against them anytime they might want to expose bad wars and the atrocities that follow in their wake.
A protester demonstrates against Julian Assange’s extradition to the US in central London on 18 June. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA
Updated at 18.12 EDT
Andrew Leigh wants to lift the gag on charities
The assistant minister for charities, Andrew Leigh, has declared that charities are free to speak out on various issues and promised that gag clauses would either be removed or not enforced.
In an interview with the Canberra Times, Leigh said he wanted to put trust back into government, and to liberate them, adding that the previous Coalition government had wished to charities “seen and not heard”:
The Liberals wanted charities to be seen and not heard. To serve in soup kitchens, but not to talk about poverty. To plant trees, but not to talk about climate change. To help out legal clients, but not to talk about law reform.
That approach to charitable advocacy starkly contrasts with the Albanese government’s policy.
We will not enforce gag clauses in social services agreements where they exist, and we’ll eliminate themin future social service agreements. So we want charities’ voices to be heard.
In a change of pace, Leigh said he was very excited to be in the role, adding he did not think any charities minister had “ever wanted the portfolio as much as I do”.
He reiterated the Labor election promise of doubling Australian philanthropy by 2030 and that a key early strategy is to lift the “unnecessary” paperwork charities need to trawl through:
Charities shouldn’t be muzzled, and charities shouldn’t waste their time filling out unnecessary forms.
We can also work more collaboratively with charities to try and figure out how to raise their productivity.
This is a massive sector. It’s over a tenth of employment—nearly a tenth of GDP. There are three a million volunteers in Australia. So even a modest improvement in the productivity of charities has a huge benefit across the sector.
The assistant minister for charities, Andrew Leigh. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP
Updated at 18.45 EDT
Tanya Plibersek says Labor didn’t cause the energy crisis
Environment minister Tanya Plibersek has dismissed claims the energy crisis is Labor’s fault, saying it would be impossible for this situation to emerge in only four weeks.
Plibersek was on Sunrise this morning and placed the blame for the crisis on “Barnaby and his mob” about former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce) and criticized the Coalition for failing to implement just one of its 22 seperate energy policies:
What nonsense. Anybody who believes this problem emerged in the last four weeks is fooling themselves.
This happens when you have parties in power who, for a decade, spent more time fighting each other than solving the problem.
Tanya Plibersek. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP
Updated at 18.36 EDT
Police charge members of Blockade Australia
Five men and two women aged between 20 and 35 have been charged with various offenses, including affray, damaging property, and assaulting, intimidating, and obstructing police this morning.
All seven people were refused bail and will appear in Penrith local court today.
It comes after police raided yesterday at a property in the Colo Valley, where around 40 people from Blockade Australia were gathered.
According to the group’sdefensee lawyers, protesters initially noticed strangers on the property and demanded they identify themselves.
Police will allege in court that a group of people surrounded officers and the tires of an unmarked police vehicle were damaged, rendering it undrivable.
Police say officers attached to Hawkesbury Police Area Command responded to the incident, neighboring commands, and specialist resources, including PolAir, the Dog Unit, the Public Order and Riot Squad, Police Rescue, Raptor Squad, and Operations Support Group.
You can read more on the raid in the story from Christopher Knaus linked below:
Updated at 18.34 EDT
Bob Carr says Australia should demand the release of Assange
Former NSW premier and foreign affairs minister Bob Carr has called on the Labor government to intervene in the case of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
Carr has written in the Sydney Morning Herald this morning and says prime minister Anthony Albanese should persuade United States president Joe Biden to release Assange, in the same way former president Barack Obama pardoned Chelsea Manning, who released classified information to WikiLeaks. At the same time, she was a US Army intelligence analyst.
Manning, the American who slipped the material to Assange, goes free. At the same time, the Australian who published it faces extradition, trial in Virginia, and the rest of his life in cruel confinement in a high-security prison, likely on the plains of Oklahoma.
In the context of Australia’s role as an ally – the heft we deliver for the US empire – a decision to let Assange walk free rates about five minutes of President Biden’s Oval Office attention.
Yet as it sinks lower on the list of democracies published by Freedom House, the battered American republic can teach the world a thing or two about its First Amendment right to freedom of expression.
Its claim to be a nation of laws is stronger if Assange, this dissident publisher, has the threat of extradition lifted. If he were sentenced to die in jail, The New York Times and Washington Post would suffer a precedent against them anytime they might want to expose bad wars and the atrocities that follow in their wake.
A protester demonstrates against Julian Assange’s extradition to the US in central London on 18 June. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA
Updated at 18.12 EDT
Richard Marles says he wants to close submarine’ capability gap.’
So we begin our daily series of politicians in the media with defense minister Richard Marles, who tells the Daily Telegraph his government will prioritize the purchase of nuclear-powered submarines able to hit the water the fastest.
He said he wants to close the 20-year “capability gap” between when nthe Coalition and the expected delivery of a nuclear-powered fleet in the 2040s first promised new submarines.
He also said he wanted more military collaboration with the United States, India, and Japan:
We need to do everything we can regarding the timing of the next generation of submarines to close that gap as much as possible.
We’re looking at having that capability delivered as soon as possible.
The former government … was about developing its bark and did nothing regarding the nation’s bite.
We are pretty well the opposite of that … we’re all about ensuring we develop that bite.
Broadly our defense force is about Australia being taken seriously in the world.
It’s right to be where we are now, much more focused on our region, but we need to think about all of those elements in how we conceive what the defense force is for.
Defense minister Richard Marles. Photograph: Danial Hakim/AP
Updated at 17.56 EDT
Good morning, Mostafa Rachwani coming to you live from chilly Sydney, and I will be taking you through the day’s news.
We begin with the energy crisis after the Energy Security Board released a high-level design paper that could allow coal and gas-fired power plants to be paid to stay in business and allow states to pick technologies suited to their carbon-cutting ambitions.
It comes as energy continues to dominate discussions after a week of near misses and requests for people to reduce their energy consumption at night.
A Australian Industry Energy Transitions Initiative report outlined how Australia’s industrial economy could slash its greenhouse gas emissions by more than 80% and become centers for multibillion-dollar investments in renewable energy. The report says the decarbonization transition could be possible with various available technologies and would bring a jobs bonanza.
It’s ba budget week in NSW, and we can expect more spending and announcements today,. The government already declared it will invest $38m to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles by building more charging sites. There is still much going on, so let’s dive in.
