Not that it will make much difference, because these governments - and particularly their friend, the United States government - are furious that Wikileaks has had the temerity to release lots of reports these governments wanted to be kept secret from the people.

So far, it seems, nothing that has been released has caused any real problem for the United States, or any other government, except that governments all over the world like to believe they should be able to work in secrecy so the people who employ them, the voters, are kept in the dark, even with the most trivial issues.

The only finding this aged scribe found in reading reports from some American embassies to the US Government was the beautiful use of English the diplomats wrote and that there seemed to be no reason why the public should not know about the information they wrote about or why the government wanted it kept from the people.

The whole point is that there would be no need for Wikileaks or others accused of similar crimes if only governments were not so determined to stop their people from knowing what they are doing.

Take this simple case: the planned amalgamation of NSW councils as dictated by the NSW Government. Fairfax Media asked for a copy of the report that was prepared for and paid for by the NSW Government that led to the pressure for amalgamations, but all they received was a copy of a glossy report that had some lovely photographs but no detail of how the findings were reached that led to the decision to force the amalgamations.

This is a report that will affect just about every council in NSW and will have a big impact on the future of many people employed by those councils. Can anyone think of one single reason why the whole report and the calculations that led to the findings in favour of amalgamation could be kept secret from the people who paid for it?

There would be no need for Wikileaks if only governments (of all types) did not work on the assumption that the people who elect them and pay their wages should be banned from knowing what is going on. Details of the amalgamations is a good example.

Governments and many government departments seem to forget that they are elected by the people to make decisions on their behalf.

That does not give them any god-like right to keep the voters in the dark on issues as important as council amalgamations.

In this old scribe's time as a working journalist in Goulburn there were some regional heads of departments who believed the public had no right to know what their departments were doing. It might seem strange but the most open government instrumentality for most of that time was the Goulburn jail. I was welcome to visit at any time. The most secretive was the Department of Health, which refused a request to remind parents to have their children vaccinated before they started school.

That is why we need a Wikileaks.