Assange: WikiLeaks Party opens for membership in Australia

By Anne Sewell

It is now official. WikiLeaks announced on Twitter on Saturday that Julian Assange's new Australian political party is open for membership.

Digital Journal reported back in January 2013 that Assange is planning to run for the Australian Senate in September this year and that he was founding the new WikiLeaks party.

However, in order to officially register with the Australian Electoral Commission, the WikiLeaks Party must enlist 500 members.

At present the party has an initial 10-member national council, which consists of supporters and close associates of both Assange and WikiLeaks.

The Twitter post reads, "Australian WikiLeaks Party now open for membership. Please test and comment ahead of our launch next week! https://www.wikileaksparty.org.au/forms/membership.html … #wlparty", and calls on Australians to join the WikiLeaks party via its newly-created website.

The website is still being tested, but an online membership form is available for potential members and the membership fee is $20.

While the website is still under construction to a certain extent, it is possible to view the constitution of the WikiLeaks Party online. Part of this constitution makes a priority of “the protection of human rights and freedoms; transparency of governmental and corporate action, policy and information; recognition of the need for equality between generations; and support of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander self-determination”.

WikiLeaks founder, Assange remains holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, despite the fact that Ecuador has granted him political asylum in that country. The UK government will not grant him safe passage and insists that it must detain him should he step out of the embassy. He is wanted for questioning on alleged sexual assault charges in Sweden and it is feared that should he travel to Sweden, he would then be sent on to the US to answer espionage charges for the release of sensitive material by WikiLeaks, which has both angered and embarrassed the US government.

Assange does not rule out the possibility that should he win the election and not be able to return to Australia, a WikiLeaks Party nominee would then have to fill his seat in the Senate.

The video above features a speech by Mary Kostakidis, Australia's first national prime time news anchorwoman, giving a testimonial to the WikiLeaks party.