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"Political pygmies".....and worse

Laurie Oakes is Australia's most veteran journalist - and highly regarded for his work.

At last night's annual Walkley Awards ceremony - where Oakes was awarded with a Gold Walkley award - he spoke of the recent election and branded the leaders of both parties as "political pygmies".

He then turned to the Wikileaks issue....

"Oakes criticised Ms Gillard and Attorney-General Robert McClelland for their comments about WikiLeaks' release of US diplomatic cables.

"What they said was ridiculous," he said.

"To brand what the WikiLeaks site has done as illegal when there's no evidence of any breach of the law, I think is demeaning ... I think as journalists we should make that our view."

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