A Libertarian Welfare Policy

Welfare is predicted to be a battleground at the 2007 federal election, according to a report in The Australian. It describes how a single mother is considering having a second child in order to maintain welfare benefits. The woman is not an obvious parasite but attempting to make a rational choice in an irrational environment. Both Labor and the Liberals are struggling to come up with policies that would make the situation more rational.

Although a specific LDP policy on welfare has not yet been prepared, the main elements are contained in the 30/30 tax policy and the policy of abolishing minimum wages.

Gun law fascists

Notorious anti-gun lobbyists Simon Chapman and Philip Alpers have written a paper claiming that the 1996 Howard gun laws prevented any further mass firearms murders.

Their ultimate goal is to remove legally owned guns from the hands of ordinary people. (They have no objections to the military, police or security guards having firearms.)

Their paper is very poorly argued. Here are a few holes I found in it.

Unleash Aboriginal business potential

Sukrit Sabhlok wrote the following article on indigenous policy (based on a paper for a university assessment) and has suggested it be used as a basis for the LDP’s policy.

The suggestions are controversial and posted here for discussion. They are not LDP policy.

Over to you.

Yet another anti-liberty party

The DLP has won two seats in the upper house of the Victorian parliament. The result was an unexpected outcome of the new proportional representation system.

Wikipedia’s entry on the new DLP gives a quick summary.  The party’s main platform is said to be “opposition to abortion, euthanasia, therapeutic cloning and same-sex marriage, and also opposition to economic rationalism. The party no longer has the patronage of the Catholic Church but still has some support among conservative Catholics.”

Based on the party’s website it is into big government, a regulated labor market and economic nationalism in a big way.

Just what we need – yet another party that thinks it can impose its values on the rest of us.

Raging against the state

I found the following post on an Australian forum for firearm owners. It originates from the US but has attracted considerable sympathy and support locally (although I doubt if Australians share the anti-abortion sentiments).
The Australian person posting it ranted at the end against the government, probably without realising that his comments reveal a libertarian inclination. How do we attract people like that to the LDP?