WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says he will run for the Senate but has yet to choose which state he will seek a seat in. Picture: AFP Source: AFP
PLANS to set up an Australian WikiLeaks party are "significantly advanced", the whistleblowing organisation's most visible member says.
Julian Assange has told Fairfax Media he intends to run for a Senate seat in the next election, adding that "a number of very worthy people admired by the Australian public" have expressed interest in standing for a yet-to-be registered Australian WikiLeaks party.
A draft party constitution has been prepared and is being subjected to legal review, Fairfax reports.
Party registration with the Australian Electoral Commission would require confirmation of at least 500 members listed on the electoral roll.
Mr Assange told Fairfax he had not yet registered to vote but believes he will be able to register in either NSW or Victoria as an overseas voter.
A "strategic decision" would determine which state he would run to represent, he said.
The Australian citizen has been holed up in Ecuador's London embassy since taking refuge there in June in a bid to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faces questioning over rape allegations.
Mr Assange is concerned that if he goes to Sweden, authorities will allow him to be extradited to the United States to be questioned over WikiLeaks' release of thousands of US diplomatic cables.
Assange plays down his hacking cough
Meanwhile, during an interview with ABC Radio last night, Mr Assange responded to reports he had a chronic lung condition.
"I wouldn't necessarily go that far but the circumstances are difficult," he said.
Before his time in the embassy he previously lived under house arrest at a supporter's Norfolk mansion.
A husky-voiced Mr Assange said he had "been in worse positions".
"Solitary confinement was worse," he said.
"Two years under house arrest, going to the police station every day at a certain time with a manacle around my leg was worse."
Ecuador's envoy to Britain, Ambassador Ana Alban, reportedly told journalists in Quito last month Mr Assange had "a chronic lung condition that could worsen at any time".
Mr Assange said in an interview published September 30 that his health was "slowly deteriorating" in the embassy, adding that he had "a racking cough".
A message was later posted on the South American country's London embassy website clarifying that Mr Assange did "not have an urgent medical condition".
He said the Australian government had offered to assist in case of medical emergency, including monetary assistance, but then scaled down the assistance they were willing to give.
"The Australian government gave a list of numbers for doctors in the London area, that was all that they would do," he told ABC Radio.
Mr Assange is concerned that if he goes to Sweden, authorities will allow him to be extradited to the United States to be questioned over WikiLeaks' release of thousands of US diplomatic cables.
He was granted asylum in Ecuador in August but Britain has refused to grant him safe passage out of the country, leaving Mr Assange stuck in the embassy.
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