Barnaby Joyce compares Julian Assange to Johnny Depp and ...

Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce has compared Julian Assange to Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, arguing the United States would never allow Australia to extradite their Hollywood celebrities.

Mr Joyce is visiting Washington D.C. as part of a bipartisan delegation of MPs calling for the United States to drop its attempts to extradite the Australian-born Assange, who is being held in a London prison while the extradition makes its way through the courts.

The founder and publisher of Wikileaks is facing up to 175 years in prison for allegedly being “complicit with Chelsea Manning… in unlawfully obtaining and disclosing classified documents related to the national defence”.

When asked why Australians should care about Mr Assange, Australia’s former deputy prime minister said this was not about whether people liked or disliked Mr Assange, it was about the principle.

“Let's look at this from a dispassionate Australian's view,” Mr Joyce told Sky News host Andrew Bolt.

“I want you to replace Julian's name with your son, your daughter, or your brother, or your sister's name; they're an Australian citizen living in Australia, who after a certain act actually received a reward in Australia.

“Then a third party in another country… says, 'What you did in Australia was an offence to us, even though you're not a citizen of our nation, nor did you create that crime or have that action in our nation, but we are now going to extradite you from another country, England, to that third country and jail you for 175 years’”.

When Bolt challenged the Nationals MP, asking if Australia would be entitled to seek extradition of an American who had hacked into Australia’s national security information, Mr Joyce said Australia would be able to seek extradition but “would never get it”.

“And I'll prove that: Let's take an American citizen. I don't know, someone famous, someone famous who actually did break laws in Australia… punishable by quite a period in jail – years,” he said

“Actually, let's give this person a name, let's call them Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, who falsely sweared documents about whether they had in possession on themselves dogs.

“Do you think for one second, one second, the United States of America would allow the deportation of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard to serve jail terms in Australia, do you honestly believe they would do that? Of course they wouldn't.”

Mr Joyce was referencing an incident that occurred in 2015, when the then-deputy prime minister Joyce threatened to have Mr Depp and Ms Heard’s dogs put down after it was revealed the pair brought their pets into Australia in violation of biosecurity laws.

The incident led the Hollywood stars to release an awkward video apologising for their actions.

Mr Assange is the first publisher in history to be charged under the WWI-era Espionage Act, and his prosecution has caused concern among press freedom advocates.

According to the 18 count Grand Jury indictment – accidentally revealed by prosecutors in 2018 – Mr Assange and Wikileaks were responsible for publishing “90,000 Afghanistan war-related significant activity reports, 400,000 Iraq war-related significant activities reports, 800 Guantanamo Bay detainee assessment briefs, and 250,000 U.S. Department of State cables".

But in a 2021 letter, a group of 23 press freedom, civil liberties and international human rights advocacy organisations wrote to US Attorney General Merrick Garland arguing the case against Mr Assange “poses a grave threat to press freedom both in the United States and abroad”.

“Journalists routinely engage in much of the conduct described in the indictment: speaking with sources, asking for clarification or more documentation, and receiving and publishing official secrets,” the letter said.

“News organisations frequently and necessarily publish classified information in order to inform the public of matters of profound public significance.

“We appreciate that the government has a legitimate interest in protecting bona fide national security interests, but the proceedings against Mr. Assange jeopardise journalism that is crucial to democracy. In our view, a precedent created by prosecuting Assange could be used against publishers and journalists alike, chilling their work and undermining freedom of the press.”

According to Mr Joyce, it is “really important” that people “understand the chronology and the actual facts” of what Mr Assange did and did not do.

“He did not steal anything from America. A guy by the name of Bradley Manning, who's now Chelsea Manning, did,” Mr Joyce said.

“And you know what? Mr. Assange was not the first person to put it on the internet. That was a guy called John Young.

“So he didn't steal and he wasn't the first person to put it on the website.”