Josh Wilson (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last week we marked the death of whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg. He was a person of extraordinary courage and conviction when it came to telling the truth about war. By releasing the Pentagon Papers he exposed some deeply unconscionable conduct by the government of the United States. He revealed the Vietnam War was without proper foundation and that its conduct was characterised by lies and cruelty.

Daniel Ellsberg was charged under the US Espionage Act of 1917, and Julian Assange has been charged under the same law although he is not a US citizen. In an interview in 2021, Daniel Ellsberg said in defence of Julian Assange:

If Assange is extradited with the help of the British, and faces prosecution in the US, then no journalist in the world is safe from life imprisonment in the US.

In relation to the suggestion he and Julian Assange should be regarded differently, Ellsberg said:

I was available for people to point to and say, we support 'good whistleblowers'. But that's just ridiculous. Whatever he's guilty of, I'm guilty of.

He went on to say:

I identify with him totally. The notion that he's guilty of something that I, the good guy, wasn't, is just false.

We should remember and honour Daniel Ellsberg—without question one of the good guys, a man prepared to speak the truth about immoral state sponsored violence. One of the most logical and appropriate ways to honour his courage and conviction is to push for the end of the persecution and incarceration of Julian Assange.