John Humphreys, founder of the recently-formed libertarian, Liberal Democratic Party, argues the case for the party in this month's edition of Policy.
He makes some interesting observations.
i) Classical liberals should not necessarily align themselves with the Liberal Party as the Labor Party in Australia has a better record on liberalising markets.
"Looking at the tax, revenue and spending records of the last five Prime Ministers, the best administration at controlling the size of government was the Hawke Labor government. Under Howard, tax has increased by nearly $2,000 per person."
Humphrys finds that the Liberals have
"outspent Labor in in education, health, welfare and in total spending."
ii) The Liberal party has given up the fight for new ideas and is solely concerned with the fight for power,
"You can't win the battle of ideas if you refuse to fight, and the classical liberals in the Liberal party refuse to fight."
iii) Political advocacy is not enough alone. It must be complemented by the formation of a new party. The Greens and One Nation are evidence of this.
"The primary goal of a minority party is not to run the country, but to have their policies stolen by the major parties and implemented."
The policies of the LDP can be found here.
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