Julian Assange appoints republican lawyer to run Wikileaks Party campaign in Australia Mr Assange is considered a long shot to win a senate seat as he would need to attract about 15 per cent of votes in the Victoria state. If he wins, he would be able to take his seat from July 1, 2014, but would need to return to Australia to be sworn in. Mr Barns, a high-profile political campaigner, said Mr Assange's party had already secured backing from a prominent Melbourne philanthropist - former Citibank executive Philip Wollen - and needed 500 members to fulfill party registration. Mr Assange struck a defiant tone in a recent interview, telling Australian academic website The Conversation that he felt "no fear" about the legal accusations against him. Truth is I love a good fight. Many people are counting on me to be strong. I want my freedom, of course. But confinement gives me time to think," he said. Mr Assange, 41, whose website angered the United States by releasing thousands of secret diplomatic cables, took sanctuary in Ecuador's embassy in London last June, jumping bail after exhausting appeals in British courts against extradition to Sweden for sexual assault allegations. Mr Assange shot to fame in 2010 when Wikileaks released secret footage, military files and diplomatic cables about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, prompting a furious response from the United States.