ulian Assange discusses his more than 300 days in the Ecuadorean embassy, the U.S. Justice Department spying on journalists and the future of WikiLeaks in a 40 minute interview Amy Goodman and Nermeen Shaikh of Democracy Now,

Julian Assange also discusses the financial blockade on WikiLeaks and why Australians are unhappy with the treatment of WikiLeaks

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 by WikiLeaks Party National Council member Kellie Tranter

A free press can, of course, be good or bad, but, most certainly without freedom, the press will never be anything but bad. ~Albert Camus~

Many people recognise that there is an ever increasing vacuum of accountability, that ethical standards and principles have long been abandoned and that politicians have become mesmerised by power. In circumstances like that information and access to it, is the only thing that can check the exercise of that power. Information gives the ordinary person on the street a chance to be their own watchdog and a sense of empowerment.

In democratic societies a free and diverse media enables public debate and provides essential checks on power. Not only is there a right to know, there is a right to tell.

Information is essential for mutual understanding, to right wrongs and in fact to prevent them from occurring, and to improve the health of our political systems and corporate structures. But in the name of freedom and democracy, governments the world over would like to convince us otherwise.

Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. This universal right has never been fully respected in practice because the powerful do not like to be constrained.

The Australian Constitution doesn’t provide any guarantee of free speech. There is only an implied freedom of political communication which is limited to what is necessary for effective operation of the system of representative and responsible government. That’s why Constitutional enshrinement of freedom of the press and freedom of speech is an ultimate aim of the Wikileaks Party.

Australia is presently ranked 26th on the Reporters Without Borders’ 2013 Press Freedom Index. Reporters Without Borders’ warned that democracies stall and go into reverse where there is bad legislation, a poor professional environment for journalists and tension over media regulation.

Australia seems to have shifted into reverse when one considers the concerns raised in the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance’s 2013 Australian Press Freedom report that:

‘the increasing number of ethical journalists being subpoenaed in order for them to reveal their confidential sources; new anticorruption legislation that empowers “star chambers” to use excessive powers of secrecy and coercion to go on fishing expeditions to discover what journalists know; the diluting of shield laws, whistleblower protection and freedom of information legislation; and the increased use of suppression orders to mask matters that should be made public in the judicial system…. we are concerned that governments, for all their noble statements about press freedom, are failing in their duty to protect and enshrine press freedom in law by undermining shield laws, creating obstructions to freedom of expression, threatening whistleblowers and by imposing restrictions on media access. It is time for government to recognise that the tenets of press freedom are not variables but absolutes..’

It is no coincidence that the Wikileaks Party’s first official policy calls for uniform shield laws because all rights that citizens have flow from freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

The Wikileaks Party also recognises that uniform shield laws go hand in hand with uniform whistleblower laws, particularly covering media disclosures. It should be unsatisfactory to all Australians that proposed Federal whistleblower laws fail to protect whistleblowers if they reveal corruption or misdoing on the part of a federal parliamentarian or if their disclosures involve Australia’s intelligence services.

Irrespective of the motivations or ulterior motives of the whistleblowers or sources, if the information is of public importance the public is better off to having access to it than not. Journalists are conduits. If the information is accurate and truthful, it should be made available, unless it relates to legitimate national security interests or endangers people’s lives.

The Wikileaks Party is driven by the values of openness, accountability and the decentralisation of power. Our supporters understand and appreciate that a democratic society means that the public can and should participate in some meaningful way in the political decisions that affect them, and that to do that, people need information to be open and free and readily accessible to all.

The WikiLeaks Party is a new force on the political block – from nothing to over 1000 members and many more supporters in a few short months. Our members and supporters come from across the political spectrum because the values we uphold are the bedrock of democracy.

This Party is built on core WikiLeaks values – transparency, accountability, the free flow of information and protection for individuals when it comes to the exercise of power by the state.

The campaign we are running is deliberately targeted at the Senate. Why? Because the Senate is the check and balance on the Executive – or that is the theory anyway.

The Senate is the house where MPs ought to scrutinize government policy and hold it up to the light.

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The WikiLeaks Party is your party. Help us take the fight to Canberra in 2013.

This month the WikiLeaks Party launches its fundraising drive, our goal: $700,000. We are running 6 or 7 candidates in Victoria, New South Wales, Western Australia and possibly also Queensland and Tasmania. Polls are showing support for our party is running high. We can build on these results with a well funded and powerful campaign. Our campaign team needs equipment, office space, transport and services and staff.

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Welcome to the WikiLeaks Party. Your party is the first and strongest political manifestation of transparency and accountability. Transparency, the bow; accountability, the arrow; the aim: justice.

GIVE, DONATE, SUPPORT Campaign fundraising; our goal is $700,000

The WikiLeaks Party is presently run by volunteers, but election campaigns need full time staff. Your party is running for Senate seats in Victoria, New South Wales and Western Australia, and possibly Queensland and Tasmania, fielding seven candidates. Our total campaign budget and fundraising goal for offices, printing, transport and staff is $700,000.00. Together, let’s make Australia proud in 2013. Donate

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