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I'm loving Australia a little today.
Why?
Because, across our political spectrum, and regardless of quite a lot of disagreement about Assange's actions and so on, there seems to be a growing consensus that what we, as a nation, do agree on is that we want our government to see that he is given all the due protections of law.
Various American pundits and politicians are calling for his murder.
There is no Australian consensus on whether what he's done is right or wrong. But we're developing a broad consensus that if he's broken the law, then that's something to resolve in a court, with all due process, and if he hasn't, then his freedoms must be protected - and it's our government, our nation's duty to see that they are.
He may well be a complete bastard. I have seen little of him, in the interviews I've watched, that would suggest he's not an utter tool.
But he's our complete bastard. An Australian tool. And in this country, you don't stop losing the rights of citizenship just because you do something the government doesn't like. (Unless you're serving a prison sentence of greater than three years, but that's somewhat controversial.)
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