Julian Assange announces WikiLeaks Party's federal election candidates

[ImperialWalker]

Julian Assange announces WikiLeaks Party's federal election candidates

Published time: July 25, 2013 16:05

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (R) (Reuters / Luke MacGregor)

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has announced the candidates who will stand for his WikiLeaks Party at the federal election.

Mr Assange announced the candidates online from the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he has been holed up for over a year as he fights attempts to extradite him to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over allegations of sexual assault.

There will be seven candidates running for the Senate, spanning the states of Victoria, Western Australia and New South Wales.

The candidates include academics, journalists and human rights activists.

Mr Assange is seeking a Senate seat in Victoria along with Dr Leslie Cannold, an ethicist and author, and Dr Binoy Kampmark, a researcher on law, international relations and history.

The WikiLeaks Party says lawyer and human rights activist Kellie Tranter will run for a NSW seat along with Dr Alison Broinowski, an academic and journalist.

Western Australia's two candidates are deaths in custody researcher and Students Without Borders founder Gerry Georgatos, and disability advocate Suresh Rajan.

The party says if elected it will demand the Labor Government's new PNG asylum policy is transparent and that people held in immigration detention are held there for no longer than 45 days.

Speaking from the Ecuadorian embassy in London, Mr Assange said his party would hold the government to account.

"Wikileaks Party is a party of accountability, it's not a party of government," he said.

"It's a party to put into the Senate, to make sure whoever is put into the government does their job. It's an insurance against the election."

The party's policies will also focus on press freedom and climate change.