Senator Assange?

[Justtristo]

Regardless of the reasons why Julian Assange wants to get elected to the Senate, if he decides to run for a Senate seat (most likely in Victoria). I predict an Assange ticket would get enough of the vote to win a Senate seat (at the likely expense of the Greens). It could be likely in that scenario that a Coalition government lacking a senate majority, would face a Senate whose balance of power is comprised of Nick Xenophon of South Australia, The Democratic Labor Party senator from Victoria, Julian Assange and possibly a Katter's Australia Party Senator from Queensland.

Many Australians regard Julian Assange as a hero and an Assange ticket would attract support from people who normally vote Labor and even the Liberals, along with those who support the Greens.

Link.

So far the British government has spent £2.9 million (approx AUD 4.4 million) watching the Ecuadorian Embassy since Assange took asylum there. As I've already pointed out in another thread this is a totally ridiculous amount of money, time and resources to spend on such a menial matter as an extradition. Assange may have political ideas I disagree with, but he's no danger to the public. As I said before it's a total waste of money because he won't leave the Embassy while it's surrounded by police, thus negating the requirement that they be there in the first place.

His plan for freedom is to win a Senate seat in the upcoming Federal Election - by which time he will have been in the Embassy for 15 months, and by which time the British government will have spent another £2.9 million watching Assange do nothing at all but live quietly in the Embassy.

I am deeply concerned about this matter for a number of reasons. The most important being how England is treating a political refugee and Australian who wants to do no crimes in England, and is no threat to England. Since when is it okay to treat refugees like criminals? The State should be charged with illegal imprisonment of a refugee.

The next is their diplomatic relations with Ecuador. The British government was willing to bend over backwards for Sweden’s extradition request - yet they do not apply anywhere near that level of diplomacy with Ecuador, who has accepted Assange as a refugee and wants England and Sweden to accept his legal status as a refugee.

To spend £2.9 million guarding someone who's crime was having sex without a condom is ridiculous. Almost as ridiculous as the charge itself in Sweden which many believe is politically motivated.

Originally when I heard of these charges back in 2011, I thought that Sweden was an independent relatively politically neutral country. Maybe Sweden is acting independently without pressure from the US. It seems to me that this matter is so trivial that it isn't worth pursuing extradition for in the first place, let alone the charade that's going on London. Assange has little option but to sit tight where he is until such time as he can safely leave the confines of the Embassy without fear of arrest/extradition.

I also don't understand why England is behaving so heavy-handedly towards this situation, if they are not under pressure from the USA. For one thing, the menial charges are Sweden’s problem, not theirs, and they have no obligation to spend so much money trying to extradite someone who's avoiding extradition.

Assange believes his best chance of leaving safely is being elected to the Senate, which will require England to recognize him as an Australian Politician in addition to a Political Refugee. Arresting Assange over such menial charges if he were indeed an Australian Politician would certainly cause an international row. It'll be interesting to see how much longer Assange must wait before he can leave. If he waits just 19 more months then England will have spent £10 million waiting for him to leave. Sooner or later they will have to realize that it's a complete waste of taxpayer money to have the Ecuadorian Embassy guarded by police day and night.

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I am not an expert on Assange and his past, but Sweden is a very democratic country.

Sweden is a nation where is it illegal to paid a sex worker, but it is not illegal to be a sex worker.