The Australian government, and governments generally, have a duty to protect its citizens and represent them abroad — irrespective of their race, religion or political persuasion. Statements by representatives of the Australian Government run counter to these responsibilities towards Julian Assange, an Australian citizen.
Mr. Assange has faced calls from the United States for his arrest, with Mike Huckabee, a former Republican presidential hopeful, reportedly saying that those responsible for the leaks were guilty of treason and should face execution.1
Tom Flanagan, a former aide and adviser to Canada’s Prime Minister has encouraged and incited violence, by calling for the assassination of Julian Assange, even going so far as to say that this assassination should be sanctioned by the President of the United States of America.2
This is completely unacceptable and inexcusable, and we call on the Australian government to condemn these statements, made against an Australian Citizen. Ms. Gillard may very well dislike this level of transparency and openness, but that does not necessarily mean that it is unlawful to publish these documents. We ask the Australian government to respect the freedom of the press, and we remind her of her obligation to protect Australian citizens from harm, and to not be complicit in bringing harm to Australian citizens. We call on Ms. Gillard and Foreign Minister Rudd to actively condemn calls for violence against Assange.
For years, as governments have implemented various privacy compromising policies, we have been told that the innocent have nothing to fear, that if you have done nothing wrong and have nothing to hide, then you have nothing to fear. We ask the politicians today, do you still feel the same way? When today’s governments cannot even keep diplomatic cables secret, why should we entrust them with the collection of our personal data?
Just six months previously the Government announced its Declaration of Open Government (also known as Government 2.0) in which it announced three guiding principles, that of informing, engaging and participating with the citizens of Australia in order to make government more accountable and participative.3 In the US a similar announcement was made a year ago which states “transparency promotes accountability by providing the public with information about what the Government is doing.”4 It is time these declarations were made more than hollow platitudes, and became something more substantive.
The question is not whether Wikileaks should or should not have released these diplomatic cables, but how could governments so readily keep such information secret from its citizens? How can they speak of new paradigms, and ‘letting in the sunshine’, yet do exactly the opposite?
[1] http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/01/us-embassy-cables-executed-mike-huckabee
[2] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/wikileaks/8172916/WikiLeaks-guilty-parties-should-face-death-penalty.html
[3] http://agimo.govspace.gov.au/2010/07/16/declaration-of-open-government/
[4] http://www.whitehouse.gov/open/documents/open-government-directive