A weary world needs heroes, and now we have a new one. Julian Assange has long been a hero to his natural supporters: the usual crowd of rich actors, preachy human rights lawyers and professional activists. Celebrities look after their own, and there is no doubt that Assange is in the club.

Now, with his dramatic release and the huge publicity attending his return, he has transcended his status as a darling of the glitterati to become a national figure. The ABC in particular could barely contain its elation, with wall-to-wall coverage. Patricia Karvelas described it as “undoubtedly the biggest political story of the week”, overlooking the more prosaic news of inflation rising to 4 per cent and the likelihood of yet higher interest rates – something with a lot more impact on Australians than the homecoming of a feted felon.

Assange’s repatriation was an exercise in stage management that would have made his Hollywood acolytes proud. Being escorted by both an ambassador and a high commissioner was completely unnecessary, but it added gravitas to the show. What other convicted Australian receives a welcome home call from the prime minister?

Whatever else it was, Assange’s case was a flagrant violation of the consular principle that all Australians who get into trouble overseas should be treated equally by the government.

Of course, the fact that Assange is a criminal is of no concern to his admirers. No sooner had they got off the plane than his lawyers started to walk back the significance of the conviction. But a guilty plea is an admission of guilt, whether it’s part of a plea deal or not. The crime to which Assange pleaded – conspiracy to commit espionage – is a serious one, recognised, in one form or another, by every legal system in the world. If Assange had committed the same offence against Australian law, he would have been prosecuted under the Criminal Code. His culpability is no less because he committed the same offence against American law.

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Assange’s supporters have never made any secret of the fact that he did what he was accused of. Many actually boast about the fact that this was the greatest release of classified documents in American history. The crime of espionage usually involves unlawfully obtaining, and communicating, classified information. Do those who celebrate Assange say that there should be no such law? Or that those who break it should not be prosecuted if their motives are pure?

Assange’s apologists argue that this was journalism. Certainly, it was publication, but since when is a massive data dump – unsifted, unanalysed and unredacted – journalism?

The fact that the documents published by Assange contained the unredacted names of numerous intelligence sources also shows how wickedly reckless his conduct was. These included people in Afghanistan and Iraq who put their lives on the line to help Western – including Australian – forces. It was painful to watch Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles on the ABC’s Insiders on Sunday, trying to walk away from his earlier, accurate statement that the leaks put the lives of Australian soldiers at risk.