The PM is sympathetic to Assange with most of the party.

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese voted in favour of a motion in parliament’s lower house calling for the return of WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange to Australia, ahead of a hearing next week at London’s High Court on his extradition.

The motion, moved by independent lawmaker Andrew Wilkie, was passed on Wednesday with 86 votes in favour and 42 against after it was supported by the Labor government. Most members of the conservative opposition coalition opposed the motion.

“(The motion) will send a powerful political signal to the British government and to the U.S. government,” Wilkie told parliament ahead of the vote.