Assange makes surveillance inquiry submission

Julian Assange has dismissed the Australia government's assurances on the limits of their surveillance powers, labelling them "absurb" and "meaningless". Photo: John Stillwell

Julian Assange has entered Australia's surveillance debate dismissing as "absurd" and "meaningless" government assurances that telecommunications interception is limited and subject to strict oversight.

In a late submission to a Senate committee inquiry into Australia's telecommunications interception laws the WikiLeaks publisher says the Australian government has "fundamentally misrepresented" information sharing between the "Five Eyes" intelligence partners the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Mr Assange, an Australian citizen granted political asylum by Ecuador two years ago and living in its London embassy, argues that revelations from former US National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden have confirmed that "bulk interception" and mass sharing of private communications "are routine among the Five Eyes intelligence agencies."

Mr Assange was granted political asylum on the grounds that he is at risk of extradition to the US to face conspiracy or other charges arising from the leaking of hundreds of thousands of secret military and diplomatic documents by US soldier Chelsea Manning. The Australian government has indicated that it will not make any representations on Mr Assange's behalf.

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He is subject to a European arrest warrant to face questioning in Sweden about rape and sexual assault allegations.

The WikiLeaks submission responds to assurances given to the Senate legal and constitutional affairs committee by Australia's intelligence watchdog, the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, that Australia's electronic espionage agency, the Australian Signals Directorate, and its "data-sharing about Australian persons" is subject to "quite strict oversight."

"It is absurd that Australian government agencies continue to misrepresent the nature of interception and their access to intercepted data via Five Eyes sharing arrangements," Mr Assange writes.

Mr Assange urges the Senate committee to examine leaked top secret intelligence documents relating to the Five Eyes interception program code-named XKeyscore.

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Assange makes surveillance inquiry submission