Assange announces candidates for WikiLeaks political party

JULIAN Assange formally announced his political party’s plans to run for six senate seats in the next election via video link from the Ecuadorian embassy.

Mr Assange revealed the WikiLeaks Party candidates who will contest seats in Victoria, New South Wales and Western Australia in the 2013 federal election.

The candidates are not traditional politicians but people with an interest in transparency and scrutiny, who want to bring the Senate back to a house of oversight, Mr Assange is reported to have said.

The Australian WikiLeaks party is hoping to attract disgruntled voters away from the big two parties, and if successful could draw away protest votes from the Greens and independents.

The WikiLeaks party has a formal charter and will hold a Latin themed fundraiser in Marrickville in Sydney on 17 August.

The party maxim is “transparency, accountability, justice”.

Meet the candidates

Julian Assange (Victoria)

• Founder and editor-in-chief of Wikileaks
• Publisher of the Iraq War Logs, the Collateral Murder video and Cablegate leaks
• Currently seeking asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy, London
• Wanted for questioning over allegations of rape in Sweden
• Fears extradition to the USA for espionage, though no formal charges or requests have been made

 

Dr Leslie Cannold (Victoria)

“I want to be a voice for Australians concerned about the security of their private information and what the Government is doing in our name.”

• Ethicist and women’s rights activist
• Running mate for Julian Assange, will stand in the event that Assange is elected but not able to return to Australia
• Stated that the Wikileaks party is “bigger than one man”

 

Dr Binoy Kampmark (Victoria)

“A monitored government, rather than a government monitoring its subjects, has always been the aim of a healthy democracy. WikiLeaks is the only party of its kind to remind voters of that aim.”

• Legal disputes lecturer
• Areas of research include conflict, diplomacy, crisis, and refugees
• Involved in a project investigating the origins of neoconservatism in the United States

 

Kellie Tranter (New South Wales)

“I’m running because our government simply doesn’t give people accurate information, it is incapable of having Australia stand in the world as an independent nation and its policies often don’t reflect public opinion.”

• Human rights activist
• Areas of interest climate change, human rights and gender equality
• “Can we trust the media?” speech at Splendour In The Grass festival in Byron Bay

 

Dr Alison Broinowski (New South Wales)

“Secrecy empowers governments, it doesn’t protect citizens from them.”

• Republican and former Australian diplomat
• Visiting Fellow, Faculty of Asian Studies ANU
• Co-patron of the Asian Association of Australian Studies

 

Gerry Georgatos (Western Australia)

“The ability to discover the truth is outstripped by the capacity to manifest deceit — The WikiLeaks Party is an opportunity to challenge this premise.”

• Founder Students Without Borders
• Staunch advocate for refugee rights
• PhD researcher in to Australian Custodial Systems and Deaths in Custody

 

Suresh Rajan (Western Australia)

“The protection of human rights is paramount to me. WikiLeaks Party delivers this.”

• Financial planner and economist
• Advocate for ethnic communities and people with disabilities
• Appeared on the ABC radio programme “Who Are You?” in 2012, speaking openly about his battle with cancer