WikiLeaks broke no laws in Australia

Police in Australia have concluded that WikiLeaks and its Australian-born founder Julian Assange have not broken any laws in his home country, the Prime Minister announced yesterday. The government ordered the Australian Federal Police to determine...

Police in Australia have concluded that WikiLeaks and its Australian-born founder Julian Assange have not broken any laws in his home country, the Prime Minister announced yesterday.

The government ordered the Australian Federal Police to determine whether the website broke any Australian laws by publishing sensitive US diplomatic cables that have embarrassed and outraged Washington.

“We have received the advice, and the advice is that there have been no breaches of Australian law,” premier Julia Gillard told reporters.

US authorities are investigating WikiLeaks over the publication of the documents, which Washington says are damaging to its national interests.

Ms Gillard said the leaking of the documents was “clearly an illegal act”, adding that the leak was being investigated by US authorities.

Australian officials have said they are assisting US authorities in that investigation.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.