NSW: Wilkie says he sounded out Labor, Dems before turning Green

AAP General News (Australia)
12-10-2003
NSW: Wilkie says he sounded out Labor, Dems before turning Green

SYDNEY, Dec 10 AAP - Former intelligence analyst and Iraq war whistleblower Andrew
Wilkie said today he had sounded out Labor and the Australian Democrats before deciding
to join the Greens last month.

Mr Wilkie quit his job as senior transnational issues analyst at the Office of National
Assessments in March to become a high-profile campaigner against the US-led attack on
Iraq.

Describing himself as a moderate Green, Mr Wilkie said he had a conservative Catholic
upbringing, but gradually moved to the left since he worked for former governor-general
Bill Hayden as an army aide-de-camp.

He said he had conversations with Labor powerbroker John Faulkner, Democrats Leader
Andrew Bartlett and Independent Senator Meg Lees before deciding the Greens best reflected
his political beliefs.

Mr Wilkie said he had not made up his mind whether he would seek pre-selection as a
candidate at next year's election.

"The Labor Party, while it has some good people in it and it does some good things,
is too pre-occupied with its own political fortunes," he told reporters.

Mr Wilkie said he had no regrets about joining the Greens before Labor found a new
lease of life under leader Mark Latham.

"It's good for the country that the Labor Party seems to have become re-energised,"

Mr Wilkie said.

"I was frankly unimpressed with the way the new leader has done a backflip in regard
to his view about the United States.

"That shows the way the major political parties behave these days.

"I would rather be a member of a party that has strong principles and stands by them
regardless of what some people might think."

AAP jph/sd/cbs/bwl

KEYWORD: WILKIE

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