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WikiLeaks - Gillard Still Doesn’t Get It
Tuesday, 15 March 2011
WikiLeaks - Gillard Still
Doesn’t Get It
Assange questions PM’s attitude to Australian citizens
In her response to questions from Julian Assange on ABC television’s Q & A programme on Monday evening, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said she could not grasp the value let alone the moral issues underlying the WikiLeaks revelations. She considered the behavior of a whistle blower such as Assange to be ‘anarchic.’
‘That’s an amazing and irresponsible admission’, say Professor Stuart Rees, Director of the Sydney Peace Foundation. ‘Where did she get that language from? The Prime Minister cannot see that revelations about the murder of civilians by the US military, about the world wide corruption of leading politicians and the subverting of justice by US government representatives are not a unique contribution to democracy?’
‘The Wikileaks revelations float the possibility that deception and unnecessary secrecy in the conduct of government might be ended. Can’t the Prime Minister and members of her government grasp that?’
On Wednesday evening in a public forum in Sydney Town Hall – “Breaking Australia’s Silence – WikiLeaks and Freedom”, Australians will have a chance to break silence on issues which the PM appears to treat so lightly:
•Freedom of speech and the presumption of
innocence
•Australians’ right to know what their
government does in their name.
•Support for Julian
Assange who is threatened with a David Hicks style
fate
•The duty of those charged with alerting the
public to the truth – journalists, broadcasters, teachers,
lawyers, academics to break their silence.
The public
forum will be addressed by Andrew Wilkie MP, Julian Burnside
and John Pilger. Julian Burnside comments, ‘Governments
exist to protect us but the Howard Government betrayed David
Hicks and Mahmdoub Habib and allowed the US government to
torture them. Now that government is out to get Assange. How
will the Gillard government respond?’ ’
On Wednesday evening members of the public will have a chance to respond.
For more information about the Sydney Town Hall forum - Wednesday evening @ 6:30 pm- contact:
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