A multi-party delegation of federal MPs and senators will travel to Washington DC this month as part of the campaign to release WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
The United States is seeking to extradite Mr Assange from the United Kingdom on 18 charges related to the publication of thousands of military and diplomatic documents.
He has been detained in the Belmarsh Prison in London for more than four years, and is currently appealing the UK’s decision to agree to his extradition.
The parliamentary delegation will include former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce, Labor MP Tony Zappia, Liberal senator Alex Antic, independent MP Monique Ryan, and Greens senators David Shoebridge and Peter Whish-Wilson.
The group will urge US politicians and officials to abandon their extradition efforts, when it travels to Washington on September 20.
“What we will be asking the US to do is to demonstrate their commitment to the First Amendment,” Dr Ryan said.
Five men and one woman stand in a line in a hall at Parliament House, as one of the men speaks at a press conference.
Mr Joyce said the prosecution sets a dangerous precedent that a citizen can be sent to a third country for an offence they did not commit in that country.
“We hope that we are given a fair hearing, because we believe it is something that we need to park and move on from,” he said.
Senator Shoebridge said Mr Assange was the subject of a “political prosecution” for “telling the truth” and it was incumbent on the delegation to advocate for his release.
In a statement, Mr Assange’s brother Gabriel Shipton said Australians had “had a gut full” of his brother being left in detention, and wanted to see him returned to his family.
“The vast majority of Australians can’t understand why the US continues to act in a way that keeps Julian locked up in one of the worst prisons in the UK,” he said.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has previously expressed frustration that a diplomatic solution to the case has not been reached.
“This needs to be brought to a conclusion,” Mr Albanese told earlier this year.
He is set to travel to Washington himself next month.
