Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he was working in the “most effective way possible” to secure the release of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, but declined an invitation Monday to meet the Australian citizen’s wife.

Independent lawmaker Andrew Wilkie asked Albanese if he would meet Assange’s wife Stella Assange, who was watching Parliament from the public gallery. Albanese said a meeting with Stella Assange wouldn’t help her 51-year-old husband who is in a London prison fighting extradition to the United States.

Video below shows about three thousand Australians turning-out in Sydney today, to protest NATO and show their support for Russia!  The large group was peaceful and determined to let their country know their position: NATO is wrong, Russia is right, and the war in Ukraine must stop.

The Australian government said it would provide surveillance drones and other high-tech equipment to the Philippines to boost its maritime patrol capabilities.