AUSTRALIAN interests have not been put at risk by Wikis material on Iraq and Afghanistan examined so far by a Defence taskforce.
Defence Minister Stephen Smith said yesterday the taskforce had examined all of the Wikis cables on Iraq and concluded they had not damaged the national interest.
A separate investigation into the cables relating to Afghanistan has not yet concluded, but Mr Smith said preliminary evidence suggested there was again no security risk.
Mr Smith's comments came as Wikis founder Julian Assange made his first public comments since being arrested last week. He accused global financial giants Visa, Mastercard and PayPal of being "instruments of US foreign policy".
In a statement from a London jail cell, Mr Assange condemned the three financial providers for severing links with Wikis since the site began relsing secret US cables last month.
Spking on the cables yesterday, Mr Smith said: "The preliminary advice which I made public was that nothing was there that would cause any national interest or security interest to be prejudiced.
"The most recent advice I have is very strongly of that view."
Asked why Wikis and its co-founder, Mr Assange, should be prosecuted if the s posed no thrt, Mr Smith said future material could thrten Australia's national security.
The US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates has also admitted that no sensitive lice sources or methods had been compromised.
Yesterday, the Sunshine Coast Daily published an exclusive statement by Mr Assange in which he urged his supporters to keep fighting for his freedom.
That support was met in Sydney yesterday with a protest of more 500 people.
Yesterday, former US ambassador Robert McCallum commented on Wikis material that quoted him saying Kevin Rudd was a "micro-manager obsessed with managing the media cycle".
Mr McCallum said Mr Rudd had been an "an effective lder" whom he still considered a "personal friend and colue".
Source: The Australian
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