Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

WikiLeaks Party Launching This Week

Posted by Unknown on from the we-have-a-leak-in-parliment dept.

PuZZleDucK writes "The ABC (audio) and the Canberra Times (text) are reporting on Greg Barns and Julian Assange teaming up to form the WikiLeaks Party. From the article: '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. "The party will offer a refreshing change from the Australian government culture of secrecy, whether Labor or Liberal," he said.'"

52 comments

  1. I'm not sure I'd want to attend by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    An anonymous party where people like to share their leaks? Ewww.

    1. Re:I'm not sure I'd want to attend by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Suspect U R rump ranger.
      Suspect U do not enjoy the vaginal arts.

    2. Re:I'm not sure I'd want to attend by Genda · · Score: 1

      Hmmm, mayhaps we should avoid the punch. Not my idea of a party thanks.

    3. Re:I'm not sure I'd want to attend by Big+Hairy+Ian · · Score: 1

      Erm isn't it a little late for April Fools?

      --

      Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.

    4. Re:I'm not sure I'd want to attend by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The punch does have a bit of wang to it

  2. Should be a wikileaks funeral by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

    They haven't published anything for a long time, and now it's 503.. I guess they all got scared

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    1. Re:Should be a wikileaks funeral by simplexion · · Score: 3, Informative

      They have published lots of things recently, namely the Global Intelligence Files. http://wikileaks.org/the-gifiles.html

    2. Re:Should be a wikileaks funeral by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You mean 451.

    3. Re:Should be a wikileaks funeral by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      just because your yank media has been silent, doesn't mean wikileaks has been.

    4. Re:Should be a wikileaks funeral by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Patience is the key. The main effect has been realized. The US cannot now stage a false flag attack without large amounts of evidence being globally publicized.

  3. Good luck with that by EmagGeek · · Score: 0

    Wait, it's still April 1st.

    Nevermind. Just a joke.

    1. Re:Good luck with that by dbIII · · Score: 4, Insightful

      April 2nd here. The people launching it think it is serious even if other people think it's a joke.
      Even if Julian is lying through his teeth and guilty as hell of everything he's been accused of in Sweden he is too honest for Australian politics.

    2. Re:Good luck with that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We'll have to dress him up in some speedos and get him in photos with children then...

      http://www.mamamia.com.au/wp-content/comment-image/173299.jpg
      (Tony Abbot - Australia's next PM)

    3. Re:Good luck with that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      As an Australian I can assure you that this isn't a joke. The party was announced more than a year ago.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WikiLeaks_Political_Party

    4. Re:Good luck with that by TheSeatOfMyPants · · Score: 1

      Can we offer to vote for him so he doesn't take that drastic step, ignoring that most of us aren't Australian?

      --
      Now mostly at Usenet:comp.misc & SoylentNews.org (it's made of people!)
    5. Re:Good luck with that by Opportunist · · Score: 2

      Right now he could rape kids and still be more honest and trustworthy than most politicians

      It would be a refreshing change to be able to vote for something but a corporate ho. I mean, if you have to vote for a criminal anyway, why not one with a crime that doesn't affect the country directly?

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    6. Re:Good luck with that by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      That's one advantage to the ROT-13. That would tell you it was a joke. Now on April 2 I'm still slightly unsure which stories are true and hilarious versus which ones are false and annoying.

    7. Re:Good luck with that by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      Now if only his name had been Congressman Weiner...

  4. Pirate Party by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Instead of a party that exposes government corruption, lets just have a party that abolishes it. IP and bad laws is/are government corruption, or at least the result of it. Lets abolish IP and other bad laws.

    1. Re:Pirate Party by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you think the main thing wrong in the world is the fucking copyright laws that stop you freeloading off others' hard work, you need to go for a walk outside your mother's basement, you over-entitled little fuckbucket.

  5. SEX with ELEPHANTS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ever thought about wrapping a trunk around your pee pee and .>.(*$@*( #&$
    @#$

    $
    #

    1. Re:SEX with ELEPHANTS by Genda · · Score: 1

      ever thought about wrapping a trunk around your pee pee and .>.(*$@*( #&$ @#$

      $ #

      And if the elephant sneezes the international space station will be able to see your testicles heading into deep space by way of your rectum! That my friend is Gawd's very own blow job.

      But to each their own...

  6. I wonder by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I wonder what their views are on the government's now-aborted media regulation initiative? And how about computer intrusion laws?

  7. He has a chance by Captain+Sensible · · Score: 5, Insightful

    He has a chance, if opinion polls are to be believed, and thanks to the voting system used.

    Australian Senators are elected for a term of 6 years, with a half senate election every three years. There are 6 senators for each state. The voting is by a proportional representation variant of the single transferable vote system (called the ‘preferential system’ in Australia).

    Minority parties need to get at least 7% of the ‘first preference’ vote and be able to agree to an ‘exchange of preferences’* with other minority parties to have a chance at a seat in the Senate.

    Although Assange is domiciled overseas and under threat of arrest, he is still able to run for the Senate. Under section 20 of the constitution, a senator may be dismissed if he is unable to attend for 2 consecutive months and has not been granted leave of absence by the president of the senate. However, under section 15, his place must be filled by another member of his party, conventionally, one who was listed on the ballot paper but who was unelected. Under section 44(ii), he would also lose his seat if sentenced to 12 months or more imprisonment, but only if this was done by an Australian court. In this case again his place would be filled under section 15.

    This new party would be best advised to stand a full senate team for each state and look to exchange preferences with other minor parties. The difficulty here is that the Wiki Party voters would probably also be Greens voters and the Greens might be hostile to an exchange.

    *A complex series of deals to exchange votes on the ballot paper, but done openly and advertised in campaign literature.

    1. Re:He has a chance by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      There is also the small issue that if he gets elected, he is under the Queen's protection as an elected representative of a Commonwealth country. That means her office must sign off on the extradition to Sweden and tradition says she will simply ignore the request. Of course that means he fly home but the stops had better be in Commonwealth counties or else he could end up elsewhere.

    2. Re:He has a chance by GumphMaster · · Score: 1

      There are 12 senators for each State and two from each mainland territory; a total of 76. Six of a State's senators will be up for election at any one senate election.

      --
      Patent litigation: A doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction... in which everyone seems willing to push the button
    3. Re:He has a chance by BBCWatcher · · Score: 2

      Not a problem. Assange would have several Commonwealth-only commercial airline routes from England to Australia. It's also possible to fly him privately from England to Australian territory nonstop, probably using a Gulfstream G650 and probably from Manston which offers a long runway. For example, Manston to the Cocos Islands would be 6,176 nautical miles (Great Circle distance) which is the sort of range a Gulfstream can manage quite safely. There are three other Commonwealth countries under that particular flight route, and Christmas Island might be a suitable alternate.

    4. Re:He has a chance by jonwil · · Score: 1

      With QANTAS flying via Dubai now, are there any flights left between the UK and Australia that stop in commonwealth countries?

    5. Re:He has a chance by Yvanhoe · · Score: 1

      If you are an Australian voter and know other concerned about the Assange case, be loud about the fact that you will follow the exchange negotiations closely and that this will affect your future votes and loyalties. Try to appear as as big a demographic as possible.

      --
      The Wise adapts himself to the world. The Fool adapts the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the Fool.
    6. Re:He has a chance by jonbryce · · Score: 1

      I'm guessing you would go via India, but probably you would have to buy two tickets with different airlines.

    7. Re:He has a chance by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There is also the small issue that if he gets elected, he is under the Queen's protection as an elected representative of a Commonwealth country. That means her office must sign off on the extradition to Sweden and tradition says she will simply ignore the request. Of course that means he fly home but the stops had better be in Commonwealth counties or else he could end up elsewhere.

      I can't find this anywhere in the Extradition Act 2003 in the UK. Are you sure this provision exists in UK law? There are other issues - the extradition is already finalised, just not executed, and there is also the small matter of the bail-jumping which is a separate criminal offence regardless of the outcome of the matter for which he was on bail.

    8. Re:He has a chance by jonwil · · Score: 1

      There is always Air Canada from London to Sydney via Vancouver (the Queen is still the head of state of Canada last I checked)
      And the flight to Vancouver from London doesn't fly anywhere near the USA (per the Air Canada web site) so there is no risk there either.

    9. Re:He has a chance by Richard_at_work · · Score: 1

      That's a non-issue - the extradition predates his entire election involvement, so she would have no issues signing off on the extradition.

      Also, hes now wanted in the UK for violation of his bail conditions, which don't need any involvement from the Queen to prosecute.

    10. Re:He has a chance by Hal_Porter · · Score: 1

      This new party would be best advised to stand a full senate team for each state and look to exchange preferences with other minor parties. The difficulty here is that the Wiki Party voters would probably also be Greens voters and the Greens might be hostile to an exchange.

      Yeah, I imagine calling Sweden "the Saudi Arabia of feminism" might go down poorly with them.

      Then again who knows. Maybe in best Orwellian leftist fashion they'll just decide we have always been at war with Eastasia^H^H^H^Feminism. It all depends which parts of the alternative media they get their news from.

      --
      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
  8. Good post by Okian+Warrior · · Score: 0

    Good post. It's the kind that keeps me coming back to Slashdot.

    Thank you.

  9. "former Lib staffer" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    So a vote for WikiLeaks is a vote for the Libs. Some radicals!

    1. Re:"former Lib staffer" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The campaign director has been a 'former Liberal' for a decade. He left that party due to his concerns over the former governments' asylum seeker policies.

  10. He has no chance by coma_bug · · Score: 1

    Minority parties need to get at least 7% of the ‘first preference’ vote and be able to agree to an ‘exchange of preferences’* with other minority parties to have a chance at a seat in the Senate.

    the quota for the election of each senator in each Australian state in a full Senate election is 7.69%, while in a normal half-Senate election the quota is 14.28%.

  11. declare that I am not a member of another party by Macfox · · Score: 1

    Just looking at the terms of membership.

    I declare that I am not a member of another party and agree not to join another political party whilst a member of The Wikileaks Party.

    Not too sure if this is a standard AEC requirement, as it's new to me, but if it isn't, it might be an obstacle to them getting wider member support. They will likely have a lot of overlap with the Pirate party that has already been established for some time and the Greens.
     

    --
    Area51 - We are watching...
    1. Re:declare that I am not a member of another party by g-lock82 · · Score: 2

      Is standard. Party membership numbers are used to determine things like funding allocations, and if you let people enrol multiple times for multiple parties the system becomes easy to game (like football grand final tickets).

    2. Re:declare that I am not a member of another party by Tagged_84 · · Score: 1

      Standard affair. If I wasn't a member of the pirate party I would sign up for Wikileaks. Best of luck to all of them, anything is better than the two major parties who are only interested in bickering amongst themselves and each other.

  12. Fun by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It will be fun watching Pres. Barak Obama on CCTV in the situation room pissing blood on the wall with Richard Nixon's life size portrait.

  13. WikiLeaks Party with Julian Assange by Kiwikwi · · Score: 2

    Am I the only one who (upon reading the title) was getting stoked for a party in the Ecuadorian embassy? Bring your own booze, and party all night with Julian and ambassador Ana Mora! (Just be wary of drowsing off.)

    1. Re:WikiLeaks Party with Julian Assange by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Like you'd mind if Julian stuck his peepee in you.

  14. Not heard anything? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The OP probably never heard anything because it wasn't about the USA. So it wasn't reported by the USA press. Ensuring that those "informed" by the USA press that WL only leaks against the USA's interests.

  15. Re:Rot13 by MikeBabcock · · Score: 2

    You mean from advertisers who target geeks who find rot13 obvious and get that it was Apr1?

    I'm betting they just solidified their demographics a bit.

    --
    - Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)
  16. Why not join with PPAU? by diorcc · · Score: 2

    In terms of principles and values Wikileaks has a lot in common with the Pirate Party and the Australian chapter ( http://pirateparty.org.au/ ). I see no reason in making yet another party. Unless they just want to capitalize on name recognition. I guess that's probably the sole reason - ro re-invent that wheel (pirate wheel: http://falkvinge.net/pirate-wheel/ ).

    1. Re:Why not join with PPAU? by quenda · · Score: 1

      The party is being created solely for the purpose of running for a senate seat. You cannot run as an independent, and the party will appoint a replacement for Julian if he is unable to take up the seat for some reason.

      It is interesting to look at the list of National Councillors - includes peace activist, anti-whaling consultant, and of course, the compulsory indigenous consultant.
      Just one anti-nuclear activist short of being another Greens party. Definitely heading for a conflict with them. Do they have any chance without a Greens preference deal?

    2. Re:Why not join with PPAU? by diorcc · · Score: 1

      Thank you for the enlightening glimpe into Australian politics. I'll read up more on it when (when?) time allows.