Assange, holed up in the Ecuadorean embassy in London as he seeks to avoid extradition to Sweden on sexual assault charges, said in a telephone interview that the prospect of his party entering the senate had set alarm bells ringing within Australia's political establishment.

WikiLeaks founder and 'people-smuggler' Julian Assange revealed to the South China Morning Post the reason why Edward Snowden fled Hong Kong for Russia two weeks after the former CIA analyst first broke cover here.