The people have spoken, and we have a new government. Congratulations to Kevin Rudd and the Labor Party on the result. Malcolm Turnbull also deserves congratulations for achieving, quite amazingly, a swing towards him in Wentworth despite all the rubbish he’s received over the pulp mill recently.

The people of Richmond have proven to be quite receptive to the libertarian message. I have polled (at time of writing) 1.61% of the primary vote, which is the highest of all LDP candidates for the lower house. In doing so I have out-polled the socially conservative Christian Democratic Party, the Democrats, and the Citizens Electoral Council. The ALP’s Justine Elliot has unsurprisingly retained the seat, so I offer my congratulations to her and her team. Full results are available at the AEC’s Virtual Tally Room.

Big thanks go out to all the people who came out in support of the LDP yesterday. I’d also like to thank the LDP executive (John Humphreys, David Leyonhjelm, and Terje Petersen in particular), LDP candidates, organisers, and donors across the country.

The LDP’s message is, to me, the only sensible and ethical one on offer. Less intrusive government and more individual choice is something that I think resonates with all people. When I think about how much more tax Australians are paying compared with ten years ago, and how much more money is wasted on corporate welfare and inefficient bureaucratic procedure, I see the LDP as the only alternative.

No one was expecting any kind of huge result for the LDP at the election. We’d only been registered a few months ago, and the Kevin Howard vs. John Rudd saga was drowning out all of the minor and micro parties in the media. Ultimately, this has been a chance to gain experience and insight. No doubt we will be looking carefully at what we did right and what we did wrong to build for future election challenges.

One thing I can say for certain is that this isn’t the last you’ll hear of the LDP.

There has been much confusion about where the LDP sits on the left-right political spectrum. I, personally, have been described as “right of Genghis Khan” by some commentators, and the LDP as a party has been called “left of Cheech and Chong” by others. Libertarianism often confuses people, particularly in Australia where the movement is not so large. Philosophically, we contend that every person is the owner of their own body and property, and they should be free to pursue their own interests free from coercion. The LDP, as a moderate libertarian party, puts this philosophy into practice by taking an “economically right-wing, but socially left-wing” approach to policy. Economically, we support free markets, lower tax, less regulation, and an end to corporate handouts. Socially, we contend that as long as you do not harm anyone else, you should be free to do as you please. Specifically, we would re-legalise marijuana usage by adults at home, support equal legal rights for homosexuals and homosexual couples, and end paternalistic bans on victimless crimes.

To find out where you stand on the political spectrum, take the Australian Political Quiz. As can be seen, the LDP is the only Australian political party championing free enterprise and civil rights.

Big business is asking for more of our money again. This time it’s the motor industry. They want a freeze on tariff cuts, as well as a boost to their $3bn welfare package, and they claim that job losses will result if their demands aren’t met. This is clearly a bogus argument: skilled labour is in demand now more than ever, so these workers would have no trouble getting a job.

The current situation reminds me of some of the economic policies of Italian Fascism. In the words of Gaetano Salvemini, “the State pays for the blunders of private enterprise… Profit is private and individual. Loss is public and social“. It doesn’t make any sense. If these failing car manufacturers were actually able to profit without being propped up by the taxpayers of Australia, we wouldn’t receive a dividend. But still we have to share in their losses in the form of both subsidies paid out of our pockets, and the inability to purchase cars at a cheaper price due to their lobbying for tariff protection. It has to stop.

John outlines the LDP’s solution:

I have an alternative proposal for the car-markers. They can either survive on their own, or fail on their own. Not one cent of taxpayers money should be wasted in proping up failed businesses. There is no economic benefit from having our resources (scarce capital and skilled labour) tied up in a business that can’t compete.

Sukrit Sabhlok, the LDP candidate for Corangamite in Victoria has set up an LDP donation drive. This comes after Ron Paul raised $4 million in a single day (November 5th) through a similar method. Unfortunately, the LDP doesn’t yet have the support base that Ron Paul does, so we’re starting with a slightly more modest figure: $1000. The LDP is not a rich party, and we don’t have access to public electoral funding, so your $10 pledge will really make a difference. Help the LDP reclaim liberty by making your pledge today.

Update: Jonatan Kelu is also soliciting donations over at Catallaxy for his Wentworth campaign, with regular JohnZ matching donations up to $500.

I will be appearing first on the ballot papers, which is kind of cool. Apart from perhaps a slight increase in the amount of primary votes I receive, I don’t expect it to make much of a difference. Nonetheless, it’s a minor win that I’m happy to take. The main benefit that has come from this seems to have been a little bit more media attention: I’ve been speaking to a few more reporters since the ballots were drawn, which is definitely good for me as well as the party.

The ballot order will be as follows:

In other news:

Notable pariah and LDP Senate Candidate for Queensland, John Humphreys, has decided to start smoking throughout his campaign “to highlight the need for Australians to throw off the nanny state and reclaim our freedom to choose”. Obviously, the message goes further than just smoking. Not only does our government tell us supposedly responsible adults that we shouldn’t smoke in licensed establishments that are not government owned, it also tells us we may not painlessly end our own lives when we are terminally ill, it tells us we must wear seat belts and crash helmets, it tells us we may not recreationally take drugs, and it tells us we do not automatically have the right to cut down trees on our own property. These frivolous and paternalistic laws nullify the idea of personal responsibility, and in many cases imply that we do not even own our own bodies and property. As we all know, the general trend has been to increase restrictions on victimless crimes in which the participant is risking only themselves. The LDP seeks to reverse this trend, and believes that every individual should be free to make their own choices provided they do not infringe on the rights of others, and are willing to take personal responsibility for their own actions.

People all over the country are saying that they want more money going into our public health and education systems, yet they seem to want the Federal Government to provide it. Every poll in every newspaper across the country seems to have people calling out for the Federal Government to fix all the various state problems we have. Canberra has started to intervene in a few areas, however, such as a hospital here and there. Isn’t it funny how they always seem to find a hospital in a marginal seat to fix?

The Federal Government doesn’t have anywhere near the resources to deal with all these separate problems at once without simply imposing a “one-size-fits-all” solution. No one talks about increasing funding to the states, which is what would be preferable if we are going to increase funding to anything. Instead, we just see people constantly looking to the Federal government to solve state problems, bypassing the states completely in most cases.
Centralisation of power is a fundamentally bad idea. It removes any chance of competitive federalism and policy experimentation, it imposes a single solution on a varied array of problems, and it removes the important “checks-and-balances” that come from having power spread among a larger group of people.

The Liberty & Democracy Party favours a policy of decentralisation: all necessary government functions should be devolved to the state and local levels wherever possible to ensure that the Federal Government isn’t just providing a single solution to a nation of very different people with different needs.

Ultimately, most government services should be made private to allow for maximum competition. The needy would be provided with vouchers to ensure they are left with the “buying” choice to make, to further ensure competition and consumer choice for all. It is clear that government services are just ripping more and more money from the people of Australia with little positive result. Is the real answer to put more money into them?

Tax cuts are good. Allowing people to keep and spend their own money is far more productive than taking taxes from the entire population and then giving it back to us in the form of election promises. The reason for this is simple: people spend their own money far more carefully than they spend the money of others.

We have had some tax cuts over the years from the Liberals, but just how much have they cut tax? It is true that an earner on a specific nominal wage will be paying less tax now than they were ten years ago; however, the one thing that politicians don’t like to mention when talking about the tax take is inflation. Over time, everyone’s nominal wages have crept up, yet the tax-free threshold has been idle at $6000 for many years. Inflation over time pushes people into higher tax thresholds, causing them to pay higher rates. The fact is that despite the Liberals’ tax cuts, the real per capita tax take has increased 34% over the last ten years. Has this resulted in 34% better government services?

Now John Howard and Peter Costello have announced another round of tax cuts (also largely adopted by Labor), but what they don’t tell you is that if wages don’t keep up with inflation during the period between now and 2010, take home pay will actually be lower than it is now. Increases to the “low income tax-free threshold” really don’t mean a thing for the average working Australian when they have to wait until tax return time to actually see the money.

It’s time to put an end to the smoke-and-mirrors style of tax cuts that we have seen since 1996. Only the Liberty & Democracy Party offers a comprehensive tax cut package for all Australians. We call it Reform 30/30. Based on a tax-free threshold of $30,000 for everyone and a single marginal rate of 30% above that threshold, Reform 30/30 will revolutionise and simply the Australian tax system. It also links to a comprehensive welfare policy based on a subsidy of 30c for every dollar below the $30,000 tax-free threshold, called the Negative Income Tax (NIT). It ends the harassment of the unemployed and the discrimination against couples. It also ends the various loop-holes and tax avoidance avenues currently available through deductions.

Reform 30/30 will allow us to abolish the destructive minimum wage, which is nothing more than a discrimination against young or unskilled workers, creating new jobs right across the country. We want to provide workers with a minimum income, which is far better done through the NIT system. The benefits of this are clear: no-one receiving welfare payments pays income tax, no-one paying income tax receives welfare, and everyone pays the same marginal rate above the same tax-free threshold.

For more information, see the LDP tax policy, or for a more comprehensive policy outline, see Reform 30/30: Rebuilding Australia’s Tax and Welfare Systems by John Humphreys.

I did my first campaign related interview today with a fellow from the Tweed Daily News. We covered many topics such as tax, poker machines, election goals, and my own personal background. It is expected that I will have a story in the paper next week. The reporter wanted to make sure that I would be in touch with issues that relate to the Division of Richmond despite the fact that I am not from there myself.I want to make it very clear that I could have contested a seat far closer to home, but the fact is that I am not from the city, and I did not want to run for a city seat. I currently live in the Blue Mountains, but in the past I have lived interstate as well as in the Hunter Valley. I feel that there is no greater way to gain insight into the issues facing regional areas than by residing in one yourself.

The principles that I am running on allow me to approach any issue in any region in a totally predictable manner. The LDP is not like either of the major parties: we will not abandon our principles just to win the votes of various special interest groups.

Hi folks,

This could be considered the first formal announcement of my candidacy in the upcoming federal election. I am running on the Liberty & Democracy Party ticket. The LDP is the only party that promotes a decrease in the size of our government, and a reduction to its burdensome influence in our everyday lives and decisions. In short, we stand for low taxes, free enterprise, civil rights, and personal responsibility.

Getting into politics was never something I’d planned on. I became involved in the LDP earlier this year after a long stint of total political apathy. There seemed to be little choice available: both of the major parties are more or less the same, and all of the existing minor parties that I’d heard of were simply short-sighted, narrow-minded special interest groups. They certainly didn’t interest me. It was then that I came across the Liberty & Democracy party (then the Liberal Democratic Party) via John Humphreys’ Australian Libertarian Society. The message of small government struck a chord with me, and it continues to do so today.

I intend to use this blog to post relevant things that are going on with my campaign. Anyone who wishes to join in the discussion may do so, or you can email any questions to info@ldp.org.au with my name in the subject field.

Cheers,

-Dan