The US needs Australia as much as the reverse. We have ports in the western Pacific and critical minerals. We could get the British subs not the US equivalent. Therefore Australia should play its cards by demanding, not requesting, the release of Assange.

I also question whether the supposed crime of spy endangerment is as heinous as war crime. According to the US whistle blowing deserves 170 years in Gitmo but shooting at unarmed civilians from a helicopter is a hiccup. Instead of us all kowtowing to the US perhaps they should be tried.

Albanese loves India, China, Open Borders, Net Zero, Gender Equality, Identity Politics, all of that stuff, it's in his DNA.

But, realistically, he knows we are an American not a Chinese ally, and that's also what voters want, they say it in poll after poll. The idea that Assange would have us making a "new defence assessment" is too ridiculous. It would make a lovely seminar at ANU, but it's not happening

Assange wouldn't be "languishing" if he had faced the music years ago.

Good on the US for sticking to its guns. Assange is a fool and a rotter of the first order; an embarrassment to Australia.

"The strength of the US-Australian relationship is sliding backwards…".

Twaddle! And who are "really" our friends in the region? China? There's not much to pick from other than the US. A few Pacific islands; New Zealand with a single-shot .22 in its arsenal. Totally useless the lot of them. Without America, we are stuffed.

The utterance that "We are to believe that exposing US war crimes is a more serious offense (sic) than committing war crimes ….. " is typically of this writer's juvenile ramblings; as is dragging up the tired old rubbish about Vietnam and Afghanistan. If we had not been involved in those actions with our only true ally, we would be a satellite of Communist China by now. We don't help America, America doesn't help us.

Even Hunter himself realises "how susceptible Australia is", before he wanders off to mumble about Ukraine and NATO - nothing to do with the topic, and Assange apparently forgotten, proving as usual, that Murray Hunter's main aim is just to rubbish Australia at every opportunity.

No new US defence pact needed! And criminal bail jumper Assange should have his day in court to defend his actions.

A good defence lawyer should be able to have him repatriated to Australia to do whatever jail time required.

A prison farm minus any computer access would do it for me along with time served.

In time he could be quietly paroled om the grounds of compliant good behaviour?
Alan B.

Assange is not a citizen of the US therefore in my opinion he cannot be charged with treason.
When the alleged "offense" occurred he was not resident in the US and is therefore not subject to any kind of US law and criminal charges, including espionage.

Assange's actions most certainly caused the deaths of many covert operatives. I find it very interesting how the opinions of some Assange supporters contrast with how they regard the trial of other offenders.

Take George Pell for example. When he was in Rome the view of some Assange supporters was that he was a dirty pedo guy hiding from justice. When he faced an appauling (note the "Paul" in that word) standard of justice the view of some Assange supporters was that we should respect the decisions of our courts. When acquitted by the High Court the view of some Assange supporters was that George Pell got off on a technicality, in this instance the technicality of being not guilty.

When it comes to crimes like past Aboriginal massacres, the view of some Assange supporters is that the guilt of these crimes should be inherited by all non-indigenous Australians in perpetuity.

Oh my goodness, but how differently do these same people think of justice when it comes to old Jules eh? The poor guy has suffered long enough. His alleged crimes happened such a long time ago that they should be forgotten (like his victims presumably). He never harmed anyone, and if he did it was in a country where the United States has no jurisdiction (getting off on a technicality in the true sense of the meaning). Jules has no problem facing justice and would never hide from it, but he'd never get a fair trial.

To me, Assange is a pathetic loathsome coward. I applaud the United States for their resolve in extraditing Assange to face trial for his conduct.

China is not necessarily our friend, but they don't have to be our enemy either. I agree with Murray, a reassessment of our military ties is required. I believe Australia should consider its position in relation to China, and at the same time our military alliances with the United States. We have paid a heavy price for US protection from Japan during WWII, being drawn into one senseless American war after another. A non-aligned, non-aggressive position would be of far more benefit than the present "lackey of America" status we now hold with other nations.

America will get us into wars, not defend us from them.
Any of you lot see US boots on the ground defending Ukraine?
The US is a toothless tiger with a hollowed out woke military that couldn't defend our nation even if it wanted to.

And the motives for the Assange case are political, not criminal.
- By a corrupt US bureaucracy that meddles in other nations internal affairs.

Assange didn't hack anything, he merely published info other whistleblowers sent him.
Our leaders aren't making any real effort to repatriate him, it's a stageshow.

It's funny how the young people today want to do away with all the old people and take their homes and wealth, while the older people cling to a corrupt US.
- This country is so completely stuffed.

Assange was naive in accepting and passing on stolen DNC emails, from the Russians, to advantage the Trump campaign over Clinton's.

If he is lucky he can serve any sentence in Oz &/or have it commuted; looks like he could do sometime in a regional low security prison in the sun while tending the vegetable patch, maybe running the library....

See David Corn in left leaning Mother Jones (17 Dec '21):

'Denounce Julian Assange. Don’t Extradite Him. The prosecution of the conniving WikiLeaks founder poses a threat to American journalism...

..But one PR problem with the case is that Assange is a highly unsympathetic character, for he is partly responsible for the damage done by Donald Trump during his presidency...

...United States has suffered greatly because of Assange. In 2016, he collaborated with the Russian attack on the US election to help Trump win. As has been detailed by several government investigations....after Russian intelligence teams hacked Democratic targets, they passed the stolen emails and documents to WikiLeaks, which then publicly disseminated the material.

The Senate report notes that Assange’s group “timed its document releases for maximum political impact.” That is, WikiLeaks wasn’t acting in a noble information-sharing manner. It sought to weaponize the information pilfered by Vladimir Putin’s operatives to cause harm to candidate Hillary Clinton, whom Assange and WikiLeaks had disparaged as a “sadistic sociopath” and a threat to the world. (“We believe it would be much better for [the] GOP to win,” WikiLeaks had tweeted.)'

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/12/denounce-julian-assange-dont-extradite-him/

Some people have some of the information wrong.
Assange received the files from that US trans soldier, just cannot
think of his/her name at present. Chelsea I think.
It was sentenced for downloading the files and passing them on to Assange.
One of the those that received them from Julian Assange was the New
York Post who published them. Also the Washington Post published them.
Those newspapers were not prosecuted.
On those grounds alone he should be released.