Julian Assange awarded Sydney peace medal

I won't comment too much on Wikileaks in particular, there's enough discussion on next to every other part of the internet.

As an Australian however I will note how appalling the federal support from Australia has been. Our Prime Minister Julia Gillard called Wikileask "an illegal act" (I'm no lawyer so I won't question it but the Attorney-General and hundreds of lawyers came forward saying Wikileaks has broken no Australian law). She then further suggested that his Australian passport should be cancelled!

I don't feel the Australian passport is something to be retracted. If we were going to retract it for illegal acts there are far worse criminals holding an Australian passport. Luckily the act of cancelling his passport is not in the Prime Minister's hands but in the Foreign Minister's hands and he has said he is in fact in support of Assange.

As such I'm glad he's getting at least a little recognition, especially as the Sydney Peace Foundation was set up within the University of Sydney, my university.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Assange#Support