Liberal Democrats – John Humphreys

History of the Liberal Democrats

_{A short history of the Australian Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) from its launch to the name-change, written after I stepped away from active involvement in politics.}

The Liberal Democrats existed in Australia for 22 years — from early 2001 until early 2023. The party still exists, but it is now known as the Libertarian Party. Given the party still exists it’s not possible to write a full party history, but this article attempts to give a summary of the party up until the name-change.

Covid lockdown chat with Limbrick & Leyonhjelm

Livestream with LibDems Victorian MP David Limbrick and former LibDems Senator David Leyonhjelm on the need to end the Covid lockdowns.

LDP President’s message

_{Written to the members of the Liberal Democrats (now Libertarian Party) on my return to the National Presidency in early 2021. I stood down from the Presidency and retired from retail politics in early 2023.}

Welcome to the Liberal Democrats – Australia’s only classical liberal (or libertarian) political party, and the only party that truly believes in shrinking the size of government.

The liberal tradition does not fit easily into the usual left-right spectrum. In Australia the Liberal Party uses the word, and yet they often pursue an uninspired big-government-conservative agenda. At the same time, in the USA the word “liberal” has been co-opted by the political left, and in Europe the term has evolved to mean something close to centrist. So what do we mean?

For the Liberal Democrats, the word “liberal” is more than just a convenient label. It is our philosophy and our reason for existing. We use the term in the classical sense of meaning “live and let live”, where people have the freedom to live their own lives as long as they respect the rights of other people to do the same. This covers traditionally “left-wing” causes such as drug law reform, same-sex marriage, and protection of privacy; and it also includes notionally “right-wing” issues such as the freedom to work, trade & invest without excessive taxes and burdensome regulation. This mix of policies may look awkward at first glance, but the consistent theme is individual liberty and scepticism of government.

Case for a classical liberal political party

_{Humphreys, J. (2007), “Taking Classical Liberalism to the People“, Policy, 23:1 (August 2007), Centre for Independent Studies, Sydney, pp40-43.}

Classical liberals have been disappointed by the performance of the Liberal Party, and are likely to remain disappointed my any major party. While a minor party may not win government, they have several benefits from having an explicitly classical liberal political party such as the Liberal Democrats:

Better advocacy and reaching more people
Changing the parameters of political debate
Being copied by the majors
Votes and preferences