Australia

Julian Assange is planning a senate run in Australia as a member of the "WikiLeaks Party," he recently revealed in an interview.

"WIKILEAKS publisher Julian Assange has confirmed his intention to run as a Senate candidate in the 2013 federal election and will announce the formation of a WikiLeaks political party early next year," the Australian Northern Daily Leader reports.

"Mr Assange said plans to register an Australian WikiLeaks party were 'significantly advanced,'" the report adds. "He indicated he would be a Senate candidate, and added that "a number of very worthy people admired by the Australian public" have indicated their availability to stand for election on a party ticket.

"Mr Assange said he is able to fulfil the requirements to register as an overseas elector in either New South Wales or Victoria and that he will shortly take a "strategic decision" about which state he would be a Senate candidate for.

"Mr Assange's biological father, John Shipton, has co-ordinated preparations for the formation of a WikiLeaks party, and a draft of the party's constitution has been subjected to legal review."

One of the most widely publicized controversies in Australia this week involves former Guantanamo detainee David Hicks. Hicks pled guilty to providing material support for terrorism before a military commission at Gitmo as part of a plea bargain and was repatriated to Australia shortly thereafter in 2007. Hicks and his many advocates have been trying to overturn that plea deal ever since.

Faced with a full-fledged collapse in public support, self-declared climate change messiah Kevin Rudd has been ousted as Prime Minister of Australia. With polls now showing a near-certain loss in this year's elections, the Australian Labor Party (ALP) installed Julia Gillard as the country's first female prime minister in hopes of reversing the party's fate.