Julian Assange has credited his Australian upbringing with providing the
motivation to launch WikiLeaks. However in a documentary aired in the
UK on Tuesday night, he was been attacked by a British journalist and
labelled an "extraordinarily dishonest man”. 
JULIAN ASSANGE has credited his Australian upbringing with providing the motivation to launch WikiLeaks.
Mr Assange,
who returns to Britain’s High Court next week for his appeal against
extradition to Sweden, was speaking in a television documentary,
WikiLeaks Secrets and Lies, which screened on Britain’s Channel Four on
Tuesday night.
"The combination of my temperament, the knowledge that I knew, the
capital I had, and the culture that I came from, the Australian culture,
resulted in a belief that I could change the world in a certain way
that would appeal to me philosophically,” Mr Assange said.
However, in the documentary, a British journalist who worked with
Julian Assange to help disseminate top-secret government cables has
described the Australian as the most dishonest man he has ever met.
The Guardian newspaper’s Nick Davies swiped at Mr Assange’s credibility, adding that the 40-year-old believed his own lies.
"I think he believes the things that he invents,” said Mr Davies, who
was one of the first reporters to start working with Mr Assange on the
publication of documents.
The two men fell out over a disagreement about involving television media in the process.
"I think most people who know him go through this process: you start
off trusting and liking him, then suddenly this kind of monster appears
from behind the scenes and you kind of think ‘where on earth did that
come from?’,” Mr Davies said.
"You suddenly discover this extraordinarily dishonest man. I don’t
know that I’ve ever met a human being as dishonest as Julian.”
Mr Assange was similarly cutting when discussing Mr Davies in the documentary.
"It’s one of the extraordinary things about British journalism, it is
the most credit-stealing, credit-whoring, back stabbing industry I have
ever encountered. Nick Davies is a part of that industry,” Mr Assange
said.
The Queensland-born WikiLeaks founder returns to court on Monday to
challenge a ruling that he be extradited to Sweden to face questioning
over accusations that he sexually assaulted two women in Stockholm in
August 2010.
Mr Assange denies the allegations and fears his extradition from the
UK could lead him to the US where authorities are investigating his
secret-leaking website.
This is the second time Mr Assange has appealed a British court ruling that he return to Stockholm.
West Australian Greens Senator Scott Ludlam is due to attend Monday’s
High Court hearing in London, having shown concern that the
Australian’s case is not being given adequate attention by the federal
government.
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