The leaking of sensitive US cables through the WikiLeaks website is putting lives at risk, Attorney-General Robert McClelland says.
Cables released by WikiLeaks have revealed that former prime minister Kevin Rudd warned US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in March last year to be prepared to use force against China "if everything goes wrong".
Mr Rudd also told Ms Clinton during a meeting in Washington that China was "paranoid" about Taiwan and Tibet and that his ambitious plan for an Asia-Pacific community was intended to blunt Chinese influence.
Mr McClelland said he did not believe the release of the cable would damage Australia's relations with China.
"We have a very strong relationship with China ... and that arrangement will continue," he told reporters in Wagga Wagga on Monday.
However Mr McClelland said some of the other 250,000-plus cables leaked through the website could put people's lives in danger.
"On the material that I've seen there is every prospect that material will be published that will identify persons of interest.
"And not only that ... it may well reveal the source of that information and place innocent people's lives at risk.
"Freedom of speech is one thing - that's an important right we respect - but we also respect people's right to life and people's right to live without fear."
Mr McClelland said the Australian Federal Police were looking at whether any Australian law had been breached and would assist US law enforcement authorities in their investigations.
Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop said the government needed to clarify its position on China.
"I don't believe that that's an appropriate piece of advice for Mr Rudd to give the United States," Ms Bishop told ABC Radio.
"I call on Julia Gillard to detail whether this remains the view of the Labor government."
Mr McClelland said the opposition should not give any credibility to WikiLeaks.
"I would strongly caution the shadow minister ... to really see what is going on," he said.
Mr McClelland said WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was entitled to procedural fairness in any future legal matters and was entitled as an Australian citizen to return to his home country.
But Mr Assange should be aware Australia was obliged to help overseas law enforcement agencies under mutual assistance agreements, the minister said.
Independent MP Andrew Wilkie, a former public servant who blew the whistle on the Australian government's case for participating in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, said Mr Assange was well within his rights to publish the information.
"It's not Assange's fault that this information is leaking out of the (US) administration - it's the administration's fault," Mr Wilkie said.
