From the ABC:

WikiLeaks has announced its founder and leader Julian Assange is planning to run for a seat in the Australian Senate.

Assange is in England ahead of a possible extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over allegations that he sexually assaulted two women in 2010.
...
"We have discovered that it is possible for Julian Assange to run for the Australian Senate while detained," WikiLeaks said on Twitter.

Heh.

Seems premature. Surely you'd wait to be cleared of the sexual assault allegations before running for Government?

andrewus, we definitely don't need to "get our Guy Fawkes on". Can you explain what that is even supposed to mean? How ridiculous.

andrewus, we definitely don't need to "get our Guy Fawkes on". Can you explain what that is even supposed to mean? How ridiculous.

reread it first, here you go:

The way Australian Politics is currently - we need to get our guy fawkes on.

Australian politics is a complete sham at the moment - hence get our guy fawkes on. Remove the lot of them and start anew. Many people feel this way and it is hardly 'ridiculous'.

edit: of course any idiot currently involved in politics probably thinks their party is the be all and end all etc etc. typical.

I would think electing Julian Assange in any sort of political position could damage Australian - American, Sweden and UK relations.

Funny how America touts freedom of speech, but when they get caught with their pants down in military reports etc that are leaked, it's "oh no you can't go doing that!"

Freedom of Speech and agreements of non-disclosure are mutually exclusive things.

When a military official who has an agreed level of non-disclosure 'leaks' a document he breaks the law. (E.g., Bradley Manning).

the key i thought was (i could be very wrong, I often am)

if bradley manning had leaked it to a "news service" (ie a newspaper) then the author would be protected, however manning would be where he is now

because wiki leaks isn't or wasn't classed as a newspaper or alike, it wasn't protected under the freedom of speech act, there for the nominated spokesperson of wiki leaks is where he is now

(I thought assange was just the figure head of wiki leaks, has this somehow changed?, if not, the media is making a good story out of it)

I think this is somewhat related:

Wait.. are we getting the "let's blow up parliament to get Catholicism back to the head of England" Guy Fawkes or the glamorised Hugo Weaving Guy Fawkes?

If I understand correcly the court case wont finish until the federal election is ready to be done. He'll then be able to stand for election.