The Australian government must lobby Sweden to allow WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to walk free, prominent human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson QC says.
A United Nations panel has urged the UK and Swedish governments to allow Assange to go free without fear of arrest after finding he had been arbitrarily detained for more than five years.
Both governments have rejected the panel's ruling, but Mr Robertson QC, who has been involved in Mr Assange's defence, says they should be taken to task by Australia.
"The Australian government should remind Sweden of their duty to accept the tribunal's decision, not argue with the umpire when given out," Mr Robertson told Network Seven's Sunrise on Saturday morning.
"And to enable these charges to be withdrawn and to issue Mr Assange with an Australian travel document, a passport, if necessary."
The 44-year-old Australian has been holed up in London's Ecuadorian Embassy since 2012 after seeking asylum to avoid extradition to Sweden to face sexual assault charges.
Assange says he fears that if he's sent to Sweden he will be extradited to the US to face an espionage case over WikiLeaks' release of top-secret military and diplomatic documents.
"Once the problems with Sweden, which are something of a sideshow, are sorted out, the big question arises, as to whether the Americans will seek to extra-extradite him, to try him and punish him and put him in jail," Mr Robertson said.
"That is really the big question as to whether it's rather exorbitant for the Americans to be able to seize someone who is not an American, is an Australian, and who did what he did.
"That is the next battle."
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop met members of Assange's legal team in London on Thursday and said she was seeking legal advice on the UN report's implications for Assange as an Australian citizen.
