THE family of jailed journalist Julian Assange is hopeful that the newly elected Australian government will pave the way for his release and return to his home country. 

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has previously expressed his support for the WikiLeaks founder, who has spent the last three years in London’s Belmarsh prison. 

In February last year, he said that “enough is enough,” adding that “he can’t see what’s served by keeping [Assange] incarcerated.” Mr Albanese is also a signatory to the Bring Julian Assange Home petition. 

Labour MP Mark Dreyfus, who is widely expected to be named attorney general, has also spoken of the need to “bring the matter to a close.”

Mr Assange’s brother, film producer Gabriel Shipton, said that his sibling is being persecuted for publishing the ugly truth about war. 

“Julian is accused of what investigative journalists do all the time, which is sourcing and publishing materials from a source; Chelsea Manning. 

“Those releases exposed war crimes in Iraq, undocumented civilian deaths on Iraq, government malfeasance, all sorts of things.”

Mr Assange could be extradited from Britain to the United States, where he faces 175 years behind bars under the draconian Espionage Act.

The decision on whether to grant the US request rests with Home Secretary Priti Patel.