Assange to run for Victorian Senate seat

[struggle4progress]

February 13, 2013
Philip Dorling

WIKILEAKS publisher Julian Assange will run for the Senate in Victoria at the September 14 federal election as the lead candidate of a newly formed WikiLeaks Party.

Mr Assange's application for electoral enrolment in Victoria was handed to the Australian Electoral Commission in Melbourne yesterday by WikiLeaks supporters including his father, Sydney architect John Shipton, who has been active in the initial organisation of the party ...

The party, not yet registered with the Australian Electoral Commission, has an initial 10-member national council comprised of close associates of Mr Assange and pro-WikiLeaks activists. Its constitution highlights the promotion of openness and transparency in government and business.

Mr Assange has nominated his mother's home in Mentone, in the federal electorate of Isaacs, as his address for eligible enrolment before his most recent trip overseas in June 2010 ...

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/assange-to-run-for-victorian-senate-seat-20130212-2eb4b.html

... Most new political parties seeking registration are non-parliamentary parties and need to prove that they have at least 500 members entitled to electoral enrolment ...

http://www.aec.gov.au/parties_and_representatives/party_registration/guide/membership.htm

[struggle4progress]

1. To be eligible to run, he must be eligible to vote, and to be eligible to vote he must have

been in Australia sometime during the last 3 years.

He arrived in Sweden 11 August 2010, and has since been occupied with fallout from the visit, so cannot have visited Australia since then
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11949341

This leaves the portion of 2010 prior to 11 August. The Collateral Murder video was released in April 2010, and the Embassy emails were released in July 2010, so he had a very busy spring and summer that year, leaving very little time for a visit
http://www.euronews.com/2012/08/16/julian-assange-and-wikileaks-timeline-of-events/

The New Yorker has reported that on 30 March 2010 he appeared in person to rent a house in Reykjavik, Iceland
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/06/07/100607fa_fact_khatchadourian`

He was working with people in Iceland on the media law as early as mid-February 2010, and press reports identify him with events in Iceland as late as June and possibly later
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/organgrinder/2010/feb/15/wikileaks-editor-excited-iceland-journalism
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/iceland-rewrites-law-to-create-haven-for-investigative-reporting-2002591.html
http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2010/06/wikileaks