Send a Yobbo to Canberra

Self-described “yobbo” and blogging identity Sam Ward has today launched his campaign for the marginal seat of Stirling (WA). Sam says it better than most anyway, so I’ll just quote directly from his campaign blog:

Unlike most other candidates in this election, I’m not going to ramble on telling you stories about how much I’ve done for the community, how many people’s hands I’ve shaken, or how I’ll personally bulldoze your neighbor’s ugly fence if I am elected.

I am standing in this election because you pay too much tax. Tax that is wasted in the inner workings of Australia’s massive beauracracy, spent on frivolous projects, or used to bribe voters.

I am standing because I am fed up with public servants constantly telling me what is best for me, and how to run my own life.

If you believe you should make your own choices, and accept the responsibility for your own actions, then you should vote for me, because all the other candidates just want to run your life in a slightly different way.

Tim Quilty on Sky News

Tim Quilty has once again been waving the LDP flag in the media. Tim is our candidate for the important bell-weather seat of Eden-Monaro (NSW) and has already picked up a bit of local media. Today he hit the big time with a story on Sky News investigating his run for the seat and highlighting his controversial proposal to end farm subsidies.

The story can be seen at www.federalelection.com.au, along with other useful information about the election.

UPDATE: The story can now be seen here.

Rudd v Howard in Griffith

There has been a lot of media coverage of John Howard’s battle to retain his electorate of Bennelong, and the LDP has a strong candidate in Bennelong (David Leyonhjelm) trying to help Howard into retirement.

But today a new Howard entered the race.

The new contender will run against Kevin Rudd in his inner-Brisbane electorate of Griffith, and has applied to appear on the ballot paper as “Howard, P.M.”

The trouble-maker’s name is Peter Howard and is better known as the serial pest who staged a break-out of Woomera Detention Centre. I ran into him today at the Brisbane office of the Australian Electoral Commission and he explained to me that his policies included removing income tax and decriminalising marijuana. Sounds good to me.

Howard may have a chance against Rudd… but of course neither candidate is a match for the LDP’s own Samantha Myers.

61 candidates

Phew! Our nominations have now been lodged and I am very happy to announce that the Liberty & Democracy Party (LDP) will be standing 61 candidates around Australia. To all our candidates and those people who helped organise the candidates, a big thank you.

The LDP has 14 Senate candidates (2 each for all States + ACT) and 47 House candidates. The LDP will be represented from Darwin to Tasmania and Perth to Byron Bay, including all important marginals. We have a healthy spread of House candidates thoughout the States — NSW (12), Qld (12), Vic (8), SA (6), WA (6), Tas (2), NT (1).

Realistically, the only winnable positions for a minor party is the 1st Senate candidate in each State. The LDP lead Senate candidates are as follows:

NSW — Terje Peterson
Qld — John Humphreys
Vic — Steve Clancy
WA — Peter Whelan
SA — David McAlary
Tas — Bede Ireland

I am very happy with how things are turning out for us so far and look forward to an interesting and fun-filled next four weeks of campaigning. If you would like to help, please get in touch with the lead Senate candidate in your State and start spreading the word. To all our candidates — good luck!

UPDATE: As there are a total of 1421 candidates, LDP makes up 4.3% of all candidates.

Human rights in China

I like China. I have travelled around there several times, I speak a little Chinese and my girlfriend is Chinese. I think they have made some great progress and I look forward to more reform and a strong China in the future as a good thing for the world.

But that doesn’t mean we need to pretend that China is perfect. It isn’t. And it’s worthwhile remembering the outstanding problems and make sure that we’re standing up for human rights. To this end it is worth noting the Human Rights Torch Relay which is attempting to raise the issue of Chinese human right’s abuse in the lead up to the Beijing Olympics. The torch will reach Sydney on Saturdy 27 October 2007.

One of the problems with Chinese human rights is their persecution of Falun Gong. Personally, I think Falun Gong is wacky… like a Chinese version of Scientology. But that doesn’t justify government repression, and I think we should defend the rights of people to believe in whatever wacky religion they like.

I plan to be in Beijing on 08/08/08 (8 is a lucky number in China) to see the Olympics and enjoy the celebration of a rising super-power. Hopefully I will be in a country that is listening to the concerns of the world and moving towards a more progressive political and legal system.

Dan Farmilo for Richmond

Richmond is a seat based in north-eastern NSW. It is a rural area with the trendy hippy towns of Nimbin and Byron Bay, which makes it a strange mix of Green & National voters. It is one of the few seats that the ALP gained in the 2004 election.

The LDP is proud to announce that Daniel Farmilo will be our candidate for Richmond. Dan is a civil libertarian who is worried about our loss of freedoms in the name of “security” and the excessive growth in government. He currently works in the financial services sector. You can read about Dan’s campaign at his campaign blog.

LDP & gay rights

Following the debate in the “A Current Affair v Lisa Milat” thread I promised to open up a dedicated discussion to the issue of gay rights.

The LDP’s position is that sexuality should not be a political issue. We believe that the government should have nothing to do with your love life. There should be no government discrimination based on sexuality and there should be equal treatment of all people regardless of who they sleep with.

Individual freedom and equality under the law doesn’t harm anybody else. If you don’t like gay people, then you are free to not associate with them. If a school wants to employ only straight teachers they should be free to do so. Likewise, if gay people want to establish a “gay-only” club that bans straight people, they should be free to do so.

Because the LDP wants to separate sexuality from politics, it is not relevant whether homosexuality is “normal”. People are free to have their own opinions on “normal”, so long as they don’t use the government to enforce their preferences on other people.

W.A. campaign launch

The LDP is launching our Western Australian campaign next week and you are invited.

When? Tuesday 30 October 2007, 6pm-8pm

Where? Rydges Hotel (cnr Hay and King St, Perth)

Who? Main speaker will be Peter Whelan (LDP W.A. Senate candidate)

Peter will be talking about “getting the government out of your pocket and out of your face” and this is a great opportunity to meet Peter & other LDP candidates, and talk about the prospect of smaller government, lower tax and individual freedoms. Light refreshments will be served on arrival.

If you want to contact Peter Whelan, he can be reached on 0416 275 850 or info@ldp.org.au.

Benj Beatty for Page

The Liberty & Democracy Party (LDP) is proud to announce another high quality candidate, running in the NSW coastal seat of Page.

Benj Beatty lives in Casino with his wife and child. He has degrees in sociology and geosciences (honours) and currently works in the energy industry while completing his masters in business. Benj is a committed libertarian who identifies lower tax as a major issue in his campaign.

Already Benj has already received some print and radio coverage and has started a campaign blog. Good luck Benj!

Scrap the minimum wage

The LDP is the only party honest enough to say what economists have always known — the minimum wage causes unemployment.

LDP policy is to remove the minimum wage and replace it with an income top-up under our 30/30 tax-welfare reform policy. This allows business to employ low-productivity workers (reducing unemployment) while still ensuring that low-income earners were protected.

LDP candidate for Eden-Monaro Tim Quilty has been in the local media recently promoting this policy, with an article titled “scrap the minimum wage” running in the Bega District News. Well done Tim.