Greg Barns named Australia's Wikileaks Party national campaign director

April 2, 2013

Yesterday, was named Australia's  national campaign director following the party receiving support from   of Melbourne.

Barns is not new to political campaigning; the barrister served as the leader of during the late 1990s and served as a  staffer. Barns was personally asked by Julian Assange to take the position, following Assange's own announcement late last year that he would run for a federal Senate seat in Victoria. John Shipton is already serving as the party's secretary. Barns said the WikiLeaks Party's federal platform will focus on several issues including human rights, freedom of speech, privacy issues, and government transparency. The Wikileaks Party has not been registered yet with the as they do not have 500 enrolled electors as of today.

Assange is still based in London in the Ecuadorian Embassy, where he has been living for the last nine months. Assange would need approximately 15% of the Victorian vote to win a senate seat. Voting in Australia is compulsory.