'We Won't Conduct Megaphone Diplomacy', Aussie Minister Says Amid Calls to Intervene in Assange Case

Earlier this week, UK Home Secretary Priti Patel approved the extradition of Australian WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange to the United States where he is charged with breaching the US Espionage Act and may face up to 175 years in prison if convicted.

Australia's minister for employment and workplace relations, Tony Burke, has commented on renewed calls by Julian Assange's supporters for Canberra to take action and pressure Washington to drop the case against the WikiLeaks co-founder.

"We’re not going to conduct diplomacy by megaphone. This case has gone on for far too long. We said that in opposition, we’ve repeated that in government...The issue needs to be brought to a close. Australia is not a party to the prosecution that’s happening here [and] each country has its own legal system," Burke told Sky News on Sunday.

Earlier, supporters of Julian Assange, as well as Australian government backbenchers, expressed the hope that the country's new Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, who previously said that he did “not see what purpose is served by the ongoing pursuit of Mr Assange”, would stay "true to his values" and press the US to drop the case. However, after becoming prime minister, Albanese said he has a belief that "not all foreign affairs is best done with a loudhailer".

This comes after UK Home Secretary Priti Patel signed an order on Friday to approve the extradition of Julian Assange to the US where he is charged with violating the US Espionage Act. In 2010, WikiLeaks published hundreds of thousands of classified military documents about the US war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as diplomatic cables. In the US, Assange is facing up to 175 years in prison if convicted. He has two weeks to appeal the UK government's decision.