20101203

Legal sanity emerges in Australia

By Peter Kemp, Solicitor of the Supreme Court of NSW, on 2010-12-04

Dear Prime Minister,

From the Sydney Morning Herald I note you made a comment of "illegal" on the matter of Mr Assange in relation to the ongoing leaks of US diplomatic cables.

Previously your colleague and Attorney General the Honourable McClelland announced an investigation of possible criminality by Mr Assange.

As a lawyer and citizen I find this most disturbing, particularly so when a brief perusal of the Commonwealth Criminal Code shows that liability arises under the Espionage provisions, for example, only when it is the Commonwealth's "secrets" that are disclosed and that there must be intent to damage the Commonwealth.

Likewise under Treason law, there must be an intent to assist an enemy. Clearly, and reinforced by publicly available material such as Professor Saul's excellent article:
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/dont-cry-over-wikil...
...Julian Assange has almost certainly committed no crime under Australian law in relation to his involvement in Wikileaks.

I join with Professor Saul also in asking you Prime Minister why has there been no public complaint to the US about both Secretaries of State Condaleeza Rice and Hillary Clinton being in major breach of International law ie UN Covenants, by making orders to spy on UN personnel, including the Secretary General, to include theft of their credit card details and communication passwords. Perhaps the Attorney General should investigate this clear prima facie evidence of crime (likely against Australian diplomats as well), rather than he attempts to prosecute the messenger of those crimes.

It is also disturbing that no Australian official has castigated Sweden for the shameful treatment Mr Assange has received ie his human rights abused, in that he has not been charged and served with papers in the English language regarding the evidence against him of alleged sexual offences. This is contrary to Article 6 of the European Covenant on Human Rights to which Sweden is a signatory nation.

Those offences remain unclear and the Swedish prosecutor Ms Ny appears to be making up the law as she wants. It appears now, by Ms Ny's interpretation that when consensual sex occurs but if a condom breaks, the male party is liable to 2 years imprisonment for sexual assault. All this information is publicly available.

An Australian citizen is apparently being singled out for "special treatment" Prime Minister. There are legitimate concerns among citizens here that his treatment by the Swedes is connected to US interests which are against the activities of Wikileaks, and you will note the strident, outrageous (and illegal) calls inciting violence against him in the US in demands for his assassination, by senior influential US politicians.

Granted that in western political circles, Mr Assange is not flavour of the month, but what he is doing in my opinion, and in the opinion of many here and abroad, is vitally necessary to expose American foreign policy failures and potential war crimes and crimes against humanity--not for the purpose of damaging US interests but to make them accountable.

While we have close and a good relationship with the US, there is no doubt that US influence and power is declining. That we appear to be still posturing, (given that declining power and a new paradigm of privately enforced accountability) to the US on the issue of Wikileaks is, Prime Minister, deeply disappointing.

Yours Faithfully
Peter Kemp.

(Readers are encouraged contact the Australian Prime Minister here: http://www.pm.gov.au/PM_Connect/Email_your_PM)

Source: WL Central http://wlcentral.org/node/480

82 comments:

  1. well said, Mr. Kemp!.

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  2. Absolutely correct.. The measures and means adopted by the united states is illegal, against humanity and morally incorrect. Human rights is being violated at every possible step by the usa. And of course, the power of usa is decling and the respect that we had.. Is now gone with the shameless and illegal attitude of the u.s.

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  3. I am impressed. Respect.

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  4. http://ollyoldokat.blogspot.com/

    I SUPPORT

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  5. Hear, hear and thank you for putting it so succinctly.

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  6. Love it!! Love it!! Mr. Kemp, you rock!

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  7. Great article. I'm upset that I cannot work for Wikileaks.

    Greetings from Poland

    Piotr

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  8. I have no issues with what I have read here, however, the name of this blogspot catches my attention with a caution flag. Do we really need to replace the apparent illusions political system around the world have in their war games, with another illusion?

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  9. the free thinkers sentiment exactly

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  10. Mr. Kemp,
    Thank you for your logical,
    well reasoned argument.
    -
    Dear "Other Viewers"
    please circulate this link
    as widely as possible.
    -

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  11. Anonymous4/12/10 01:15

    WOW HOW ABOUT THAT MISTER PRESIDENT ???
    ANY MORE? (is vitally necessary to expose American foreign policy failures and potential war crimes and crimes against humanity)
    ANY MORE?
    ANY MORE?
    ANY MORE?

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  12. I believe that this will be a life changing event. The beginning of political Truth will not and can not stop now. You can not unknow something. We have now entered a world of no borders, no censorship, no power by money, and no closed doors. The truth is out there and honourable men will not fear it - they will know it by its nature.

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  13. Unfortunately, instead of entering a world of no borders, no censorship, etc, we probably will see governments trying even harder to censor the Internet. In many countries, it has already started. The people in power fear openness and transparency.

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  14. @T.Rue:
    Any system is an illusion, the best we can do is to choose an accountable one, maintain it with good intentions and continuously strive to improve it. You can not simply not be in any system, because everything is a system (or illusion) apart from the Universe as a whole. (at it has no system boundaries)

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  15. It's about time more people owned the Truth. Thank you Jules, ever since the great D.O.D heist you have been my favorite messenger. Namaste

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  16. Well done. Well noticed, well expressed, well spoken out.
    I Support Mr Assange 100%. Freedom to Speech must be A REAL FREEDOM and not Pretended!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  17. One of the points made here, I thought if the other day..

    High ranking political people saying "mr Assange should be given the death penalty for treason", but surely one can only commit treason if one is a national of the country they are revealing infos about..?

    In my opinion, if America wants to continue with a strong and proud image they shouldn't be trying to attack the WikiLeaks campaign, as it shows that there's something to hide lol

    Americans fight whoever they have problems with... just like JFK and many others...



    More power to the WikiLeaks campaign! And I wish all the best to Mr Assange, for he's a pretty.brave guy, being the avatar for the campaign...

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  18. You are absolutely right about every aspect of this travesty.

    Now, be quiet and do what your American overlords tell you to do.

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  19. Bravo, Peter Kemp, Solicitor of the Supreme Court of NSW. May you always be remembered as the first of your profession to stand up and speak clearly freely and ethically. Now to your colleagues and perhaps even a few real journalists or politicians. This is the chance to sort the men from the boys. This issue has so many layers and will continue to unfold in countless ways. Lets see or hear from “The powers that be” who is willing to walk the talk. Freedom? Who is in?

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  20. "You can not unknow something. We have now entered a world of no borders, no censorship, no power by money, and no closed doors."

    You think power will give up that easily? All they have to do to shut up we chattering classes is turn the power off. Which they will and can do, if they have to.

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  21. Thanks Peter for your very brave act , this has a direct bearing on the world and not just Australia

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  22. Great to see these revelations coming out at last.

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  23. @hughesy that would be complete network disruption, and thus victory for Assange's assault on conspiracy by understanding it as computational network.

    http://zunguzungu.wordpress.com/2010/11/29/julian-assange-and-the-computer-conspiracy-%E2%80%9Cto-destroy-this-invisible-government%E2%80%9D/

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  24. Excellent letter and so, so true. Lets hope our government has the guts to stand up and fight for one of its citizens rights!

    Good luck Mr Assange

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  25. THAT IS AWESOME! Thank you Mr. Peter Kemp,...the WORLD agrees with you.

    Mr. Assange is an unparalleled world class HERO!

    FFD

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  26. Anonymous4/12/10 03:06

    This is a clear-cut article on the issue, that is of the type much needed to support Julian Assange now. Perhaps the next step should be an actual legal move against Sweden by Assange supporters.

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  27. Excellent Mr.Kemp. Exactly what is required.

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  28. Anonymous4/12/10 03:17

    May I please ask that you credit the source that you copied this letter from: WL Central http://wlcentral.org/node/480

    Please note that WLCentral publishes under a Creative Commons 3.0 BY-SA licence, and that while this allows you to copy content, you are requested to post correct attribution.

    Mr. Kemp's letter was sent exclusively to us, and I would like you to reflect this appropriately.

    Thank you.
    WL Central admin

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  29. Bravo!

    Thank you for your strong voice and support.

    Peace!

    Here is my two cents on "Why every seeker of truth must support WikiLeaks and Julian Assange."

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  30. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  31. Lets all ditch these obsolete old fools, crowd-source our government and make a new world.

    We can do this!

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  32. Anonymous4/12/10 03:46

    America’s mask of democracy has fallen.

    Well done, Julian Assange.

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  33. Thanks form the north to Wikileaks, Assange and to Mr Kemp. "What happens there... happens here."

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  34. Anonymous4/12/10 04:00

    Well said, I have also cancelled my Amazon and my paypal accounts in protest

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  35. the man has balls of steel to opose the usa

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  36. Anonymous4/12/10 04:58

    thank you Mr Kemp for bringing sanity back to this Mad World!

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  37. +1 that agrees firmly!
    from Portugal

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  38. Anonymous4/12/10 05:06

    Excellent! We all support Wikileaks and Assange!
    From Italy,

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  39. I agree and I am sorry to say that I am a United States citizen. This country needs to be taken down a couple of levels. We are not the peace keeps of this world and need to learn that the hard way.

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  40. "El mal triunfa cuando los hombres buenos no hacen nada"

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  41. Anonymous4/12/10 07:09

    I am a US citizen who thinks the United States Government, Sweden and Australia should leave Assange alone. Sono una cittadina Statiunitense che crede che i governi americani, Svedesi ed Australiani dovrebbero lasciare Assange in pace.

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  42. A well constructed and presented argument.

    To remove our basic freedoms and rights and to watch a Commonwealth Nation fall in line with US demands is frightening and disappointing. As far as I can see there has been no Australian laws breached (or should that be the US State of Down Under?).

    The Australian Government needs to grow some b*lls and stand up for a citizens rights as well as the rights of a sovereign nation.

    As individuals we all need to stand up and let them all know the rights to freedom of speech and freedom of information. Long livce wikileaks and I hope Julian is well and continues to be safe and secure.

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  43. Bravo! Time to clean the stables of the "establishment" that is rotting not to any lesser extent than the Communist one once in Europe. They will be making a lot of noise over one fake email from the Treasury but keep their mouths shut when thousands of websites are censored and apparatchiks try to decide what we are allowed to read! How I "love" those apparatchiks! - both those Commie ones and these!

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  44. first and foremost, those points are well put, the US can bum and blow all it likes about the wikileaks discloseures potentially"putting lives at risk".the excuse they posit is lame simply because the civilian fatalities in Iraq far outweigh any losses the us has faced, or is likely to face consequent upon the release and subsequent analysis of the wikileaks disclosures.

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  45. Anonymous4/12/10 08:35

    The link to Saul's article is down. This one works as of postime time.

    http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/dont-cry-over-wikileaks-20101201-18glc.html

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  46. Anonymous4/12/10 09:05

    Excellent.
    Please add " like it" Facebook option to blog.

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  47. It's a shame what you are doing with Jullian Assange Mr. Prime Minister. To sacrifice Mr. Assange by not aiding him makes it clear who you are. There is no credibility in the leaders of this world. You aren't an exception!

    Do you really think we all are dumb? Or not able to summarize 1+1? Even a simple taxi driver not having any education knows and feels what is going on!

    This guy is like Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Albert Schweitzer, Staufenberg or Weise Rose. What are you going to tell your children or grandchildren in 10 or 20 years asking you about Julian Assange? Are you really going to step into the footprints of those who has been fighting against those jewels of the human race?

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  48. Dear prime minister you are betraying one of your own in favour of America? Isn't that high treason in and by itself?

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  49. Australians!
    Please help Mr Assange!That is very important for him but more important for all people over the World.
    Yours
    Dusan Andrijasevic

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  50. Every Nation that is helping American in this illegal pursuit, are as rotten as them. And their secrets are just about to be known.

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  51. Hi,
    Iknie is a new global code for peace and understanding.
    Iknie is also a fantastic, fresh and clean energy for us all.
    Will we use Iknies in the future for a better communicating ?
    A new worlds logic ?

    José Tavares
    (Artist and inventor)

    www.iknie.wordpress.com

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  52. after reading this article i came to know that Mr. Jullian Assange is an austrlian citizen. I wud have been proud to have him as my countryman. PM of Austrelia Sir, you have let down someone of your own, very sad and shameful.. Whole civilised and concerned world stands with Mr. Jullian Assange. He has become a world citizen..

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  53. Well said Mr Kemp, and thanx.

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  54. I will also be writing to our Prime minister, i have been appaled at her ignorance of Mr Assanges plight with the Sweedish prosecution. It is clearly a trumped up situation.

    Please donate to Julian Assanges defence, and keep him free to continue this great work.

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  55. Miss Gillard what are you not telling us.
    Please Kevin Rudd what do you think (why did your own party turn on you) We need you Kevin speak up. Whats getting hidden from us.

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  56. well said indeed, many thanks for this.

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  57. Good job! We need prominent citizens like Peter Kemp to stand up. And that's why in the future we got to ressist governments attempts to put Internet filters in place. Under pretend of restricting access to child porn they would disconnect us from accessing inconvenient information. They are already trying hard to do so (using our money) without mega switch in place. Support our fight for right to know, the other side is using our money to disconnect us... http://www.wikileaks.ch/support.html

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  58. oh yes, it's ok guys, it had to come - the internet is changing everything. it's our communal mind coming to fruition! and thanks for the link to email our PM - have sent one to Julia with links to here and the poll results at Professor Saul's article on Sydney Morning Herald - a massive 84% in favour or Wikileaks publishings! Governments and cowards like Amazon, PayPal etc can try to restrict freedom of the press and the internet - good luck guys! you are Luddites trying to stop the tide coming in (hahaha sorry bout the mixed metaphors but this makes my blood boil)

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  59. nadie sale lastimado, solo los intereses del Imperialismo fallido

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  60. Like communism fell 20 years ago, we watch as the corrupt capitalist system also falls, so don't stand back and say "yes I was there and watched", but join hands on our keyboards and send the words of truth around the world so that they ring in the ears of those who have ABUSED their positions of power and IGNORE the plight of those below. Each who writes here is OVERPRIVILEGED, we are ALL GUILTY and perhaps are some day willing to admit - we have ALL taken too much. Only those unaware of all this action deserve to benefit from the demise of USA and are we willing to let it pass over to them? I emptied my bank this week, if we all continue in this direction the whole damned sorry mess will shatter and like many of you I am willing to stand there and watch it happen. The wave, the torrent of disapproval against former leaders is passing the critical point, this very minute, it is already too late to save it now, even pulling the plug on the internet is no longer possible. Go out and give it all away.

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  61. Mister Assange and Mr Kemp, take the power - and pass it on.
    You both deserve so much thanks from us all.
    May you sleep deep and peacefully.
    Who is next to join the ranks of defenders of the truth?






    Step out of your shell and do it!

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  62. Yay! Thank you & thanks to Wikileaks & everyone with & behind them.
    Hope springs eternal!

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  63. Thanks Mr Kemp for saying what so many of us think. Shame on the Australian Gov. for bowing to the USA once again. Starting to think we are just another state of the Us.

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  64. that's perfect sound , thank you

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  65. Anonymous5/12/10 07:20

    Thank you, Mr. Kemp!

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  66. Thank you for so beautifully expressing my sentiments.

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  67. T. Rue, let's not get caught up with names and labels. We're talking a new, holistic, and interdependent paradigm here.

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  68. Lynndewald, sorry for the omission. A link to the source has been added at the bottom.

    Now, the task for all those who are outraged at what is going on is to realize that it is the money that keep these totalitarians afloat via the banking system.

    Get your money out of the banks on Tuesday, December 7th! What you do with it us up to you, but here in the U.S. we have the option of investing our money in the local, non-profit credit unions.

    Don't support tyranny with your money!

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  69. Anonymous5/12/10 13:47

    Whose blog is this?

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  70. VIVA !!!!Wikileaks!!!...los APOYO!!

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  71. thanks for sharing, please visit me back

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  72. Show the banks who the true owners are, who the real power belongs to! Take their power away. Take this money out! Close down their system since we now see how at a whim THEY have the audacity to close down accounts.

    (stealing their client's money).


    How DARE they do this?

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  73. It is time to ACT and NOW!

    Not later, not when it is too late, but NOW!

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