Background Information: 5-7min, must be related to Australia the more the better and well the rest you know, be persuasive etc.
P.S ignore grammatical errors.
Imagine a world with a government that lies to its citizens on the false premise that it is for their protection, a secretive and covert government that conducts illicit activities. Is this a world you wish to live in? Imagine another world, this time with a government that is transparent, the citizens’ are able to trust their government with the full knowledge that what they say is what they will endeavour to deliver. Better? What separates these two worlds is the ideal of transparency within democracy, something Wikileaks strives to achieve through its actions. The new era of internet and information has made it possible for Wikileaks to accomplish the goals whilst being able to challenge governments as an independent medium. However, Wikileaks is much more than that; it is now a vital journalistic tool with an essential role in mainstream media, aiding in the fight for freedom of information and the existence of a truly free press. Democratic societies need a strong media and Wikileaks is part of that media because it can help to keep governments honest.
Firstly, Governments globally fear Wikileaks for one simple reason, because it is an unrestricted tool of free press, with little pressure from governments, it can do what the media, newspapers cannot, divulging secrets with little threat of ensuing legal action. The fact is more often than not today, reporters are routinely threatened with severe legal actions, resulting in the prevention of stories that might serve the public interest. Australia and America have rigid and strict policy for its secret documents, thus the increasing threat of aggressive legal action by government have made it virtual impossible for reporters to do their jobs, conflicting with the basic principles of democracy. With the emergence of Wikileaks, the ability to publish information anonymously, thus circumventing legal barriers; has given journalist a powerful tool to better do their jobs. Wikileaks provides the raw information/material or source; journalist can then step forward to investigate and put it into political context, making it public interest. When Wikileaks released its troves of information, citizens did not flock to the site; they turned to media outlets to interpret them and give them the cliff notes. This is why the New York Times considers Wikileaks “the most important journalistic tool of the 21st century” as quoted on the website. Therefore it would comes as no surprise that numerous Australian media giants have banded together in a letter to the Prime Minister Julia Gillard advocating their strong support of Wikileaks, some the figures include; Paul Ramadge, editor-in-chief, The Age, several editors of the Herald Sun and more news websites.
Secondly, As the leaks continue to flow, Julian Assange as the editor-in-chief and face of Wikileaks has been under attack from the left and right, from various governments and prolific political figures. Labeled as an enemy combatant, terrorist, compared to the likes of Osama Bin Laden. Hilary Clinton has charged him with an attack on the international community; the Canadian Prime minister has called for his assassination, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has blasted the actions of Wikileaks and Julian Assange calling it “grossly irresponsible” and “illegal”. Many governments seem to believe that Wikileaks have in some ways breached some form of law. As the Australian government probes for whether Wikileaks has breached any Australian laws, we see a contradiction; Australia prides itself as a democratic nation with freedom of speech and a supposedly free and fearless press, yet the government attempts to suppress Wikileaks. Tt is the media’s duty to responsibly report material if it comes into their possession, Wikileaks is an organization that aims to expose official secrets, doing what the media has always down, bringing light material governments would prefer to keep from the public eye. Consequently, when the Gillard government attempts to shoot down the messenger because it doesn’t want the truth revealed, about its own diplomatic and political dealings, they run the risk of damaging Australia’s free speech. The Australian Lawyers for human rights president Stephen Keim says “accusations of criminal laws breached leveled at Assange undermine free speech principles”. Now, the Australian government is considering the cancellation of Julian Assange’s passport. It is almost ironic that statutory powers of such seriousness should be contemplated because a person has placed political material of an embarrassing nature into the public sphere. It is something the media has always done; the government is clearly exercising double standards in this regard, because news corporations are big and old, Wikileaks is still young and small. More to the point there has been no evidence to suggest that Wikileaks has even broken any Australians laws.
Finally, Wikileaks is not perfect far from it, it has flaws. Yes, there is the potential to put lives at risk with the information in the leaks. However, there are stringent measures in place to prevent such occurrences, on inspection one discovers that all of the leaks are redacted carefully. Wikileaks is not out there to destroy governments or cause mass hysteria, it is there to expose the deception in government, bring to light the truth once again. Moreover, every time Wikileaks publishes the truth about abuses committed by US agencies, Australian politicians chant with the State Department: "You'll risk lives! National security! You'll endanger troops!" Then they say there is nothing of importance in what Wikileaks publishes. Which is it? Wikileaks has a four-year publishing history. During that time we have changed whole governments, but not a single person, as far as anyone is aware, has been harmed.
History has shown us that you cannot silence the truth, and in the same way the government won’t be able to silence Julian Assange and Wikileaks,
• In 1958 a young Rupert Murdoch, wrote: "In the race between secrecy and truth, it seems inevitable that truth will always win." His observation perhaps reflected his father Keith Murdoch's expose that Australian troops were being needlessly sacrificed by incompetent British commanders on the shores of Gallipoli. The British tried to silence him but Keith Murdoch would not be silenced and his efforts led to the termination of the disastrous Gallipoli campaign.
• In the landmark ruling in the Pentagon Papers case, the US Supreme Court said "only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government". The swirling storm around Wikileaks today reinforces the need to defend the right of all media to reveal the truth. If anyone is to blame for today’s situations, the government only has itself to blame.
I would like to leave you with this quote from the CEO of Google Eric Schmidt said when questioned about the internet and privacy today “If there is something you don’t want people to know, then you probably should not be doing it in the first place.” Perhaps government should heed this advice.
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