A lawyer for the United States has appeared in a Sydney local court to oppose pushing back an extradition date for detained pilot Daniel Duggan.
Former fighter pilot Daniel Duggan is fighting to push back a court date that will decide whether he is eligible for extradition to the US as his legal bill nears $1 million.
The ex-top gun's lawyer, Jolan Draaisma, appealed today to delay the extradition proceedings on the grounds Duggan and his supporters were still seeking funding to pay for his legal defence.
The cost of Duggan's defence so far is already more than $800,000, Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court was told.
A plan by the family to sell their property on the NSW south coast to pay the bill was successfully opposed by the US, which sought to have the asset frozen and prompted the family to instead approach Legal Aid.
Lawyer Trent Glover, acting for the US, formally opposed the application to push back the extradition hearing.
Draaisma said the property was the only asset Duggan had to pay his legal fees.
Legal Aid was yet to make a determination and was asking for further information to assess the application, including the merits of the case, she added.
A decision might not be made until June, the court heard.
Magistrate Daniel Reiss said it was unusual for a party to be looking for Legal Aid to "pick up the tab" halfway through proceedings.
Duggan was arrested on an extradition warrant at a supermarket car park in the NSW central west in October 2022 at the request of US authorities.
The 55-year-old former US military pilot, who became an Australian citizen in 2012, is accused of breaching arms trafficking laws by training Chinese pilots while working at a South African flight school in the early 2010s.
The father of six denies the US allegation.
Duggan's wife Saffrine and children appeared outside today's court hearing holding banners calling for his release.
"Every single day I ask myself, 'How can this be happening to my family – my husband and our six beautiful kids'," Duggan said.
"How can I be living in Australia - in an age when ASIO listens to all my calls and reads my emails without a second thought."
Duggan said her husband had been held in a two-metre by four-metre maximum-security isolation cell for close to 500 days with minimal contact with the outside world.
"He wasn't allowed out at all for seven months and now gets into a yard by himself when it suits the authorities, certainly not every day," she said.
"He has been abandoned by his country … by the politicians who are supposed to represent us and by an extradition act that allows the US the ultimate power."
Duggan's lawyers are seeking a full hearing date tomorrow for their application to postpone the extradition case.
