WikiLeaks names former Lib staffer to run campaign

Look out, Senate: Julian Assange is still holed up in Ecuador's embassy in the UK. Photo: AFP

Barrister and former Liberal Party staffer Greg Barns will be national campaign director for Julian Assange and the new WikiLeaks Party to be launched this week.

The new party has also secured support from a prominent Melbourne philanthropist and is actively seeking members to achieve federal registration.

Mr Barns said on Monday he had agreed to be the WikiLeaks Party campaign director following conversations with Mr Assange, who has announced he will run for a Senate seat in Victoria in the September 14 federal election.

Greg Barns. Photo: Eve Fisher

''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 Labor 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 amongst 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 for the party's headquarters has been provided by Melbourne philanthropist Philip Wollen at Kindness House in Brunswick Street, Fitzroy. A former Citibank executive, Mr Wollen is an animal rights and humanitarian activist and supports a wide range of non-government organisations and charities.

The WikiLeaks Party is recruiting members to achieve the membership of at least 500 enrolled electors required for Australian Electoral Commission registration. Mr Shipton said there had been a ''very encouraging'' response since the party opened its online membership application web page last week. He confirmed the party was receiving donations, including one commitment of about $100,000.

Mr Assange resides in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he has been granted political asylum on the grounds he is at risk of extradition to the US from Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning on alleged sexual offences.