Lismore City Council has passed an official motion in support of jailed Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange. 

The decision, made at Tuesday night’s meeting, makes Lismore the first New South Wales Council to move a motion to support him, joining Darebin, Yarra and Moreland Melbourne Councils.

The motion of support was introduced by Deputy Mayor Darlene Cook, who said Council would now write a letter to the Foreign Minister calling for the government to provide full assistance to Julian Assange, who is facing extradition from the UK to the US under an Espionage Act (1917) prosecution for engaging in journalistic activity.

“This week is the first week of his hearings in the UK,” Cr Cook said. “The motion acknowledges Julian Assange is in poor health and facing torture and extradition to the US and 175 years imprisonment. 

“He needs urgent Consular support to help him prepare his defence and the Australian Government has failed to support him over the past ten years.

“The Deputy Mayor of Byron Council is putting up a similar motion at Byron Council’s meeting today.”

Cr Cook said she had received some criticism asking what ‘does Julian Assange have to do with Lismore?’

“We are not just a town of parochial people - we are global citizens and he has strong support in the community,” she said.

“Maybe some people are still unhappy with Wikileaks, but there’s already been ten years of injustice with people hounding him, strip searching him and calling for his execution.

“The Obama government said he hadn’t committed an offence – it’s not an offence to publish government documents. 

"The New York Times had already printed unredacted versions of the documents and they never got prosecuted. It was President Trump who decided the media is the enemy and punished journalists who criticise his regime – and he targeted Assange."

Julian Assange has a connection to the Northern Rivers community. 

“He spent a few years at Goolmangar Primary School as a young fella and people still think of him as a local boy,” Cr Cook said