Category: Freedom of Speech

Freedom of speech

Pirate Party Demands Inquiry into Assange Abandonment

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Pirate Party Australia are ecstatic over the decision of the Ecuadorian Government to provide political asylum to Australian journalist Julian Assange, editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks, a whistleblower-centric media organisation.

The Party remains extremely dissatisfied with the Australian Government’s lack of support for the journalist. Mr. Assange was to be extradited from the United Kingdom to Sweden for questioning over sexual abuse allegations, but broke his bail conditions by applying for asylum and staying at the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

“Why has Ecuador, a nation with a poor record for respecting press freedom[1][2], accepted an asylum application from an Australian citizen, while our own government has continually refused to provide any form of assistance to Julian Assange?” asked David W. Campbell, President of Pirate Party Australia.

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Pirate Party Demands Extension of Submission Deadline for National Security Inquiry

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In what Crikey’s Bernard Keane has rightfully called an “government wishlist of new surveillance powers”[1], the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Intelligence and Security (JPCIS) has asked for submissions on the Attorney-General’s Department’s discussion paper ‘Equipping Australia Against Emerging and Evolving Threats.'[2]

The discussion paper suggests “a massive expansion of intelligence-gathering powers including data retention, the surveillance of Twitter accounts, forcing people to give up computer passwords, ASIO stop-and-search powers, government authority to direct telecommunications companies about infrastructure and the power for ASIO to plant or destroy information on computers.”[1]

Given the gravity, complexity and sheer volume of proposals and implications arising from the proposals, the window of a mere month for public comment and submissions to the Inquiry is far too small for any meaningful or considered response to the Terms of Reference.

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Pirate Party Outraged at Breach of User Trust with Telstra Data Retention

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Pirate Party Australia is outraged at Telstra’s underhanded scheme of tracking the websites accessed by their customers.[1] It was recently revealed by the telecommunications company that they track and store web addresses visited by their NextG subscribers on systems in Chicago, out of reach of Australian law.

“This raises a series of very serious issues. They are logging user behaviour without consent and the data is stored in the United States where our Privacy Act does not apply, but where the Patriot Act does apply. I find the claims that the non-consensual use of the data will be used to build an Internet filtering database for their ‘Smart Controls’ product to be troubling,” said Brendan Molloy, Party Secretary.

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Open Letter to Government Regarding Failure to Act on behalf of Assange

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In an attempt to get a real response for once, this letter has been sent to each person listed below via snail mail. We truly look forward to their response.

To:
The Honourable Julia Gillard, MP, Prime Minister of Australia,
Senator The Honourable Bob Carr, Minister for Foreign Affairs,
The Honourable Nicola Roxon, MP, Attorney-General of Australia,
The Honourable Kevin Rudd, MP, Former Minister for Foreign Affairs,

I am writing to you today on behalf of Pirate Party Australia to express our disgust at this Government’s continued abject failure to act regarding the political safety of one of our citizens, Mr Julian Assange.

We are extremely disappointed that Mr Assange has had to seek asylum with a foreign government, and would like to know why there has been no intervention on his behalf. We understand that the UK police have a warrant for his arrest on the grounds that Mr Assange has broken his bail conditions by seeking refuge at the Ecuadorian embassy in London. We also understand that he is merely wanted for questioning in Sweden, and has offered numerous times to comply with investigations, both while in Stockholm, and via video link from the United Kingdom.

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