Assange arrives home in Australia

For more on this, I'm joined now by Reuters journalist Kirsty Needham in Canberra. Kirsty, emotional moments at Canberra Airport. What was the atmosphere like there? That's right, just over an hour ago, Julian, a scientist plane landed here at Canberra Airport, found the first person he spoke to, we're told, was the Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese. They had a warm conversation. Then Assange came down the stairs of that aircraft. He looked at the sky, he pumped his first, he raised his first in the air. He gave his wife Stella a big embrace and then embraced his father before going inside the terminal. We're now at the East Hotel in Canberra. There's a very large group of supporters with balloons, with banners who were outside here just shortly. They've now gone inside because we expect Stella Julian's father John and his legal team to address the media. But it's an emotional day here in Canberra. We were at Parliament House earlier talking to John Shipton about this decade long fight by the family to get their son back. And politicians came up and said we want to hug you. We're congratulating this son's family. So it really shows how this, this campaign, you know, putting aside the politics of WikiLeaks for the campaign to get an Australian fact, had really caught on in the public imagination here in Australia. So do Australians have a consensus on Assange's case? Do they all view it positively? Well, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had a had a good answer to this today in Parliament. He said it's not about the case. There are divided opinions over whether, you know, WikiLeaks did the right thing. You know, there are opinions on freedom of speech. There are opinions on national security. But this government had said it had gone on too long. It's a 14 year saga. Assange had been in, you know, five years in a British jail, seven years hiding out in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. So it was more of it was framed more about bringing an Australian home and bringing closure to this ongoing saga. But you're wondering what Julian Assange will do next. Do we know what his plans are at this point, particularly for his platform, WikiLeaks? Well, we spoke to his father today and he's expecting Julian to take some time just to reground himself in ordinary life, spend time with his family, with his two young children and, you know, just process, I guess we, you know, we're not expecting to see Julian out publicly talking this evening. So his family are saying he's going to take some time to, you know, to readjust. He he's been living a monastic solitary life for so long. But his father said, knowing Julian, that won't be the end of it, that there, you know, the following that he's gained. And you know, the person that he is, he's quite sure that, you know, his son will reemerge again in some public capacity. But for for now, we period for him to to take the time in Australia. It's the first time he's set foot in Australia in, you know, 16 years to, to readjust to life outside this, you know, hermit like hermit like existence. The legal process involving Julian Assange has been so complicated, taken so many twists and turns involving multiple countries. Is this really the end of it? Look, this plea deal does seem to be the end, and it seems it's been drawn to an end by intensive lobbying by the Australian government. But they're being very careful to say, look, political lobbying, the legal system, they're two very separate things and we respect the process. But with this guilty plea in a Pacific island court to US territory, Assange did not want to set foot on US mainland soil. Guilty on one single espionage charge, then released as a free man. Based on the time already served, this legally does seem to be the end of it. Now his wife has said, though, they will push for a pardon. Kirsty, thank you very much. That was Reuters journalist Kirsty Needham in Canberra, Australia. Thank you.