Australian journalists are being asked by WikiLeaks founder and journalist Julian Assange's wife, Stella, to file freedom of information (FOI) requests with the US government to obtain details on its criminal case against him – as his plea deal prohibits him from doing so. 

In a statement released on Julian Assange's first full day back in Australia, his wife and legal team thanked legislators, the prime minister, and supporters locally and globally whose 14-year effort led to his release.

She said, “If Julian pleaded guilty in federal court in Saipan, it’s because he was pleading guilty to committing journalism,” adding, “This case criminalizes journalism – journalistic activity, standard journalistic activity of news gathering, and publishing. And so this is the reality of this prosecution. It’s the case should never have been brought. But the important thing is that Julian is free … And we can put this behind us.”

She announced on Wednesday that her husband would make a public appearance after recovering from years in prison and court struggles against extradition to the United States.

Speaking to journalists at a news conference in Parliament House on Thursday, Stella Assange said, “Julian isn’t allowed to request freedom of information, make information requests from the US government."

“But you can and I encourage you to … so please do," she stressed.

A requirement as part of the plea deal is that WikiLeaks remove any unpublished material on the US that they or their affiliates held. According to Assange's US attorney Barry Pollack, WikiLeaks' published material was over ten years old, and he was unsure whether they still had unpublished records but noted that Assange fulfilled his obligations.

“In fact, the United States in court in Saipan yesterday conceded – and the judge found – that there is no evidence that any harm has befallen any individual anywhere in the world as a result of Mr Assange’s publications,” Pollack said, noting, “That being said, they did insist that he issue an instruction to the editor of WikiLeaks to destroy any materials they might have that were not published and Julian has complied with that provision.”

FM says ties with US 'damaged' now

Stella Assange expressed her husband being "overjoyed and so grateful" to the Australian people, as well as to all political parties who supported his release, including the government.

“… I think the whole world celebrated with us. It was us meeting on the tarmac but it was the entire world who was celebrating.”

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However, on Thursday, Shadow Foreign Minister Simon Birmingham accused PM Anthony Albanese of improperly calling Assange on his arrival and found it a problem with Albanese comparing the return of whom he called political prisoners with the negotiated plea agreement for Assange. 

Birmingham told ABC Radio National on Thursday morning, “The idea that that Julian Assange should be held up and treated and feted in the same type of way as Australians who genuinely been held as political prisoners, who have genuinely been arbitrarily detained by regimes that don’t offer that type of transparency – there is absolutely no comparison between the two."

“This wasn’t an act of heroism,” he continued. “It was simply an act of somebody who was happy to take any and all information given to him and publish it. That’s not what you do on the ABC and it’s not what any other responsible journalist would do.”

Birmingham claimed the US Congress would "think very poorly" of Albanese for having welcomed Assange and that his public support harmed Australia's relationship with the US, but Penny Wong, the foreign minister, disagreed.

Wong said in response, “He [Birmingham] would know that our relationship with the United States is deep and strong and that is why we were able to advocate in the way we did.”

'Cartwheels' in Canberra 

Julian Assange’s longest-serving lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, condemned Birmingham for his statements.

“It is entirely appropriate for the Australian prime minister to call an Australian citizen who has been through what Julian’s been through and had just touched down in Australia,” Robinson told journalists.

“To suggest that looking after an Australian citizen … who has been through so much could damage our alliance is, I think, wrong," she said, stating that Birmingham “needs to get his priorities straight."

This comes after a US court sentenced Assange to time served and no supervised release after he pleaded guilty to one of the US espionage counts as part of a plea agreement with US prosecutors. According to Flightradar, the jet with Assange on board arrived in Canberra at 09:37 GMT.

John Shipton, Assange's father, said on Wednesday that he was "doing cartwheels" following his son's release from the British Belmarsh Prison.

Assange had been imprisoned in the high-security Belmarsh Prison in London since April 2019 after British police were allowed to raid the Ecuadorian Embassy where he had sought asylum in 2012. 

The United States sought to put Assange on trial for publishing US military secrets and evidence of war crimes in the American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is accused of publishing some 700,000 confidential documents relating to US military and diplomatic activities.

On Tuesday, newly filed court papers indicated that Julian Assange entered into a plea deal with the United States government.

In early June, a YouGov and ABC News poll indicated that 70% of Australians believe Assange should have all charges against him dropped.