My name is Kellie Tranter. I see myself as a fairly typical Australian. I’m from regional NSW, locally educated and I’ve worked in Sydney, Newcastle and Maitland as a lawyer.
For the last 10 years I’ve been deeply concerned about our economic, humanitarian and environmental situation. I’ve also spoken out about government duplicity and misinformation. You can trace my history on those issues on the Internet.
I’ve previously stood as an Independent candidate in NSW State elections. An unsolicited endorsement of my candidature there by anti-corruption fighter John Hatton I wear like a badge of honour. Until now I’ve refused to join any political party because of the compromises that involves. The Wikileaks Party is different because its principled stance is more consistent with my own position than that of any other party. So I’m proud to be here today as one of two Wikileaks Party Senate candidates for NSW.
I’m also pleased to have my running mate here today, the very impressive Dr Alison Broinowski. Alison was an Australian diplomat until 1996, working in Asian countries and at the Australian Mission to the UN in New York. She has written several books on Australia’s interface with Asia, Australia’s invasion of Iraq, our military presence in Afghanistan, and our excessive dependence on the United States.
We are also running quality candidates in Victoria, including of course Julian Assange, and in Western Australia.
The Wikileaks Party comes forward with the ideals that Julian Assange and Wikileaks have come to represent: freely providing accurate information for the benefit of all citizens, fearlessly exposing truth and encouraging people to be informed and to make up their own minds.
The Party has risen on a groundswell of public opinion against government secrecy and duplicity. Our focus on a transparent system with accountable actors will produce more responsible and ethical policies in all areas of government.
From a personal perspective I’ve long been concerned with polls that show a deep cynicism about our party political system. In 2005 Don Chipp lamented the fact that he had been unable to get Members of Parliament to vote according to their principles, their conscience, rather than how someone else told them to vote. That’s what he meant when he earlier said he wanted to “keep the bastards honest”. In 2010 Harry Evans, the former clerk of the Senate, revealed his disappointment about the lack of backbench rebellion. And former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser has recently described Australia as a strategic colony of the United States. These are symptoms of dysfunctional government, and it’s problems like these that The Wikileaks Party aims to address.
Our team is motivated and determined. Our National Council consists of people from diverse backgrounds with unique and rich perspectives, and our Senate candidates are the same. Along with all of our party members we have a common goal. Our aim is to bring The Wikileaks Party’s principles of honesty, transparency and accountability to bear on all levels of government. If we can do that our governments will truly be governing in the interests of the Australian people and hopefully we might thereby restore some public confidence in our political system.
We aren’t out to form a government, but we’re certainly out to reform government. Julian Assange has said The Wikileaks Party is an insurance policy for the Australian people. It’s insurance we all need, insurance against any government trying to pull the wool over our eyes or ride rough shod over the rights and interests of the Australian people.
Thank you
