2 Apr 2013

Greg Barns Campaign Director For WikiLeaks Party


From SMH April 2. The barrister and former Liberal Party staffer Greg Barns will be national campaign director for Julian Assange and the WikiLeaks Party to be launched this week.
The party has also secured support from a prominent Melbourne philanthropist, Philip Wollen, and is actively seeking members to achieve federal registration.
Mr Barns said on Monday he had agreed to be the campaign director following conversations with Mr Assange, who has announced he will run for a Senate seat in Victoria in the election.
''Assange is a serious Senate candidate; this is no stunt,'' Mr Barns said. Mr Barns, who ran the Australian Republican Movement referendum campaign in 1999, said the WikiLeaks Party would focus on freedom of speech, human rights, government transparency and privacy issues, including the government's online data retention proposals.
''The party will offer a refreshing change from the Australian government culture of secrecy, whether Labor or Liberal,'' he said.
''We'll be running a highly collaborative campaign that'll be very innovative, using informational technology to engage voters. ''There's a good measure of support for Julian, especially among the many Australians who engage with politics and issues online. He'll definitely be in the mix for a Senate seat in Victoria.''
WikiLeaks Party secretary John Shipton said the party would be launched at a meeting of its national council next Saturday. The party's new website proclaims its commitment to ''practise in politics what WikiLeaks has done in the field of information by standing up to the powerful and shining a light on injustice and corruption''. The party's constitution sets out objectives that include promoting transparency to hold politicians, corporate executives and union leaders accountable for their policies and actions.
Accommodation has been provided by Mr Wollen in Fitzroy, Melbourne. Mr Wollen, a former Citibank executive, is a prominent animal rights and humanitarian activist.
Mr Assange is in the Ecuadorean embassy in London, where he has been granted asylum on the grounds he is at risk of extradition to the US from Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over alleged sexual offences.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Who do I vote for in Tasmania (Denison) to make it count for the WikiLeaks Party?