Murray Olds: Australian correspondent on Julian Assange's return to Australia following prison release

It's been confirmed Julian Assange will return to Australia after being released from prison. 

The Wikileaks founder was charged with conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information - and spent seven years in Ecuador's London Embassy, and five in a British prison.

Australian correspondent Murray Olds says Assange is set to return to Australia by the end of the week - and there's plenty of excitement for his arrival.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
International correspondence with ends in eye Insurance Peace of Mind
for New Zealand business.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Murray Old's Australia correspondent with US now he mus very
good afternoon herea. So when is Julian Nosaje due to
land in Australia, well beyond by the end.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
Of the week, is the thinking here? Left London last night,
going we understand, via Singapore to fly then out to Saipan.
Of course, Saipan. The Battle of Saipan one of the
most violent of the Second World War. It was considered
by Japan, of course, to be one of the last

(00:36):
lines of defense of their homeland, and a lot of
American Marines and Army took on a lot of Japanese
soldiers there, so there's a lot of history. Anyway, it's
an American protectorate. The plan is for for Assange to land,
to go to court, plead guilty to one felony, be
sentenced to sixty two months in jail the precise amount

(00:57):
of time he's been held in jail in London, and
then on the next plane out via back via Singapore,
we understand, and then home to Australia. So could be
by the end of the week.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
So if he's only I mean, if he's appearing in
court tomorrow at nine am, which is what like eleven
Amur time and whatever type mid morning, early morning your time,
what's stopping him from jumping on a plane and just
hitting home straight away and being home tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (01:22):
Well, look, he might be. I just don't know what
airlines he's flying, and I don't know the the you know,
the connections out of Saipan back to mainland Asia. But certainly, look,
there's a lot of excitement here. I don't think anyone
much cares exactly when he touches down, just as long
as he does. I heard you make reference there to
what if they say, well, gotcha now, Because that's what

(01:44):
he's been fighting for. That's what he jumped into the
Ecuadorian embassy for, and that is why he has been
held in jail for five years and two months because
he would not be he would not accept extradition to
the United States, where he faced hundreds of years in jail. Basically,
in my view, is a you know, it was a
lifetime journalist. He was simply exercising freedom of speech. He

(02:04):
didn't steal the documents, he simply published them in the
same way as the was the New York Times, the
Washington Post published the Pentagon papers. I mean it's it's
it's documents out there in the public domain. For me,
I think putting stuff out like what we saw in
the in the in the wiki leaks, leaks, I think
it did. It did everyone a big, big favor. It

(02:27):
exposed what was going on.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
Yeah, fair enough. Hey, what do you make of the
Matt keen appointment.

Speaker 1 (02:32):
Well, uh, look, I don't know Matt Keenan all that. Well,
I've spoken to him Harvard dozen times, you know, interviewed
him and so on. It was estrange for the New
South Wales Liberal Party because he was such a lefty
he could almost have been a labor politician to be honest. Anyway,
he served as you know, he was a very young
Minister for Energy, Minister for climate change, and he was

(02:54):
at odds of course with some on the hard right
wing side of the Liberal Party, the Conservatives over here.
It didn't seem to bother him. He was busy taking
potshots at anyone about the need to go renewable energy.
He was always an opponent of nuclear energy. So he
was about to quit. He's still a member of Parliament.
Actually just quit the Shadow Ministry. I think he leaves

(03:16):
on Friday. Anyway, he's been appointed to the chair of
the Climate Change Authority by Anthony Albanisi. And look this
outrage on the right hand side of politics over here,
you turncoat, you traitor left he's a saying well, beauty,
I mean Albanisi an inspired master stroke to blunt Peter
Dutton's push for nuclear We have to wait and see.

(03:38):
I mean, look, he's not a pin up boy for
the right. I can assure you of that.

Speaker 2 (03:43):
Yeah too, right, Muslssen, thank you as always really appreciated,
and we'll talk to you in a couple of days. Again,
it's Mario Old's Ossie correspondent. For more from Hither Duplessy
Allen Drive, listen live to news Talks it'd be from
four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.