Australian PM Anthony Albanese supports vote calling on UK and US to free Julian Assange

Cross posted from lemmy.ml/post/11906477

The independent MP Andrew Wilkie hailed the passage of the motion, 86 votes in favour and 42 against, as “an unprecedented show of political support for Mr Assange by the Australian parliament”.

The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, joined Coalition colleagues in opposing the motion on Wednesday, although the Tasmanian MP Bridget Archer crossed the floor to back the pro-Assange motion.

The vote coincides with confirmation from the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, that the Assange matter was raised when he met his US counterpart, Merrick Garland, in Washington DC two weeks ago.