View Liberty and Democracy Party Responses

The Liberty & Democracy Party (LDP) doesn’t try to offer special deals to any specific constituency, including the Christian constituency. We believe the government should treat everybody as individuals and leave them to make their own decisions to the maximum degree possible.

The LDP includes people of many different faiths. However, as the LDP strongly supports the separation of church and state, the religious views of politicians are not considered relevant. The LDP does not believe that people should vote on the basis of race, sex, religion, sexual preference etc. Instead, people should vote on the basis of which policies will lead to the best outcome.

Too often, when there is a problem people instinctively call for government action. This is an unfortunate and dangerous attitude. Strangely, faith in government seems to be stronger than many people’s religious faith. The LDP does not share this faith in the benevolence and brilliance of politicians and bureaucrats. Indeed, the history of government has generally been a history of bad policies. Consequently, the LDP does not support government action in any area of life unless there is strong evidence to show that the government action is going to create a tangible net benefit. So far, this has not been done for climate policy.

Consistent with our basic principles of individual self-ownership and liberty the LDP does not believe there is any role for government in the private family decisions of Australians. People should be free to make health and family decisions (such as whether to have an abortion) without the government subsidising or taxing them.

Same as above.

The LDP believes that each individual owns their life. To the degree possible, the LDP supports an individual’s right to do what they like with what they own, so long as they don’t use violence, coercion or fraud.

Personal decisions should be made by free individuals, not the government. This includes a person’s decision about their own life and death.

Same as above.

Same as above.

The LDP is proposing that the current immigration policy (with a quota on entrants) be replaced by an 'immigration fee'. This approach would be more efficient, simple and equitable as new immigrants would be contributing towards the public goods that have already been paid for by previous taxpayers. With these improvements, the LDP believes the Australian public would be more willing to accept high levels of immigration. This would also undermine the market for people smuggling, as such immigrants could instead use their money for their immigration fee to legally enter the country instead of paying people smugglers.

Regarding refugees, the LDP suggests a 'bond' system where applicants (or, more likely, Australian charity & church groups) post a 'bond' equal to the immigration fee. If the applicant is denied refugee status but refuses to leave the country then the bond will be used as their immigration fee.

The final element of the LDP's immigration policy is the introduction of 'Free Immigration Agreements' based on the same lines as 'Free Trade Agreements'. We already have such an agreement with New Zealand, where citizens of one country can easily move to the other country to live & work. We suggest expanding this approach to include other approach countries such as Singapore, Canada, Ireland etc.

The LDP supports the idea of voluntary overseas aid and many members of the party contribute to foreign charities and/or non-profit organisations.

However, the LDP does not support the idea that Australians should be forced to give charity. There is nothing moral in being forced to donate and nothing moral in giving away other people’s money.

There is evidence that shows a significant amount of government aid is wasted or counter-productive. The best way to help developing countries is to trade with them and encourage economic growth – which leads to more voluntary charity.

Homelessness is caused by poverty and the high price of property. The LDP has comprehensive policies at addressing both of these issues.

Strict planning laws, burdensome regulations and meddling bureaucracies create a significant block on housing supply and decrease the amount of property development. The LDP supports the relaxation of planning/zoning laws to allow greater development. This will increase the supply of affordable housing.

The major cause of poverty is unemployment and the LDP is the only political party willing to do what is necessary to solve unemployment – abolish the minimum wage. It is a fact of economics that the minimum wage creates unemployment. If a worker has a productivity of $6/hour but the minimum wage is $8/hour then they will never be employed.

If the minimum wage was abolished then people with low productivity (generally the young and unskilled) would be able to sell their labour at the market rate and find a job. It is simply untrue that this would lead to significant wage cuts as most people are already paid more than the minimum wage.

In addition, under the '30/30' tax/welfare reform the LDP would introduce an income supplement for low-income earners to ensure that all Australians can meet a basic minimum standard of living.

The '30/30' tax reform would drastically improve incentives to work, reduce bureaucracy and administration costs, lead to greater efficiency, economic growth and higher average wages. Combined with more jobs and more housing this is the best policy for addressing homelessness in Australia.

The LDP is the only political party in Australia that firmly supports competitive federalism and political decentralisation, where political decisions are made by the most local and decentralised form of government possible. Not only does this allow for diversity and lead to better policies through experimentation and imitation... but it also is consistent with the intent of the Australian Constitution.

The LDP is totally opposed to the bureaucratic duplication in government, where taxpayers support two education bureaucracies (State & Federal), two health bureaucracies (state & federal), two industry bureaucracies (state & federal) etc. Where possible, the Federal Government should give up their role in these areas and allow the states to do their rightful job.

Disability services are one area that would benefit from having a more decentralised approach to policy and the Federal Government should not be involved.

Same as above.

The LDP believes that the government should never have got involved in marriage. The decision to marry is a very personal decision and should have nothing to do with the government. People (including homosexuals) should be free to enter into any voluntary agreement they like and the government should not discriminate against particular agreements based on the sexual practices of the people involved.

LDP also supports the right of people to discriminate. That means that a church group (or anybody else) should be free to create their own rules on their own property – and this includes having a rule not allowing homosexual marriage at their church. But such groups are only free to discriminate with regards to their own property and should not impose their morals on the rest of society through the coercive arm of the government.

The LDP believes that the government should treat each Australian as an individual. The current welfare system pays a couple less than twice what is paid for an individual. This is because the government recognises that families have 'economies of scale' (i.e. they save money because they share). The LDP believes that families (not the government) should get the legitimate benefit of economies of scale and couples should receive twice what a single person gets.

In addition, our current complex tax system has a range of different incentives for different people, which can mean vastly different incentives for different people in the same family (e.g. high tax rate on one person & a low tax rate on the other person). In response, some people have called for income splitting.

The LDP solution is more simple and efficient – we are suggesting that there is a consistent incentive structure throughout the entire tax/welfare system. No matter how much money you earn or what your family situation, under the '30/30' system every person would always keep 70c in each dollar earned. This is significantly more than the current situation, where some people keep only 20c or 30c due to taxes and withdrawn welfare.

Both of these reforms would increase the benefits of being in a family. But it is important to note that these reforms are simply removing a tax on families, and are not a subsidy for families.

The LDP agrees that it is the best interest of a child to have a father and a mother. However, we don’t live in an ideal world and no parents are perfect. Many homosexuals (or single parents) will be able to provide an above average upbringing. Likewise, many heterosexual parents will have other flaws that are more relevant to parenting. It is wrong and bigoted to pre-emptively exclude homosexuals from adoption without looking at all other relevant issues.

However, the LDP supports the rights of free individuals to discriminate using their own property. An adoption agency is free to apply whatever rules they think are most appropriate without interference from the government. Consequently, if an adoption agency chose to exclude homosexuals then that is their choice.

The LDP position on this issue can seem quite confusing at first. We oppose the state laws restricting IVF, but we also oppose the Federal Sex Discrimination Act and oppose the Federal Government over-ruling state government legislation.

Regarding IVF the LDP believes that the IVF clinic should be free to determine their rules. Some clinics may offer IVF to single women while other clinics may refuse. Family decisions are very personal and private matters and the government should not be involved.

However, if the state government does pass a law restricting the use of IVF, then the Federal Government should not override that law. The LDP believes strongly in competitive federalism and political decentralisation, where decisions are made by the most local and decentralised form of government possible. Specifically, the LDP believes the Federal Government should follow the intent of the Constitution and allow the states to govern the majority of public life (including disability services, health policy, education policy etc).

As outlined earlier, the LDP defends the right of an individual to discriminate using their own property. Consequently, the LDP is opposed to the Federal Sex Discrimination Act.

The government should exist to protect the rights of its citizens, irrespective of their race or religion. There should be an absolute separation of church and state with no government endorsement of any particular religion.

 Like every other political party, the LDP opposes slavery. The central role of government in society is to protect our life and property and prevent violence and coercion. The LDP supports stronger punishment for victim crimes and more resources focused on preventing victim crimes (as opposed to policing victimless crimes). If anybody was being coerced into being a prostitute then the LDP certainly opposes that.

However, the LDP supports the free choice of people to voluntarily become a prostitute and the free choice of two people to enter into a voluntary contract regarding sex. The government should not tell us how to live or lives and they should not be regulating our sex lives.

Adults should be free to make their own decisions in life without the government (or any other group) interfering. When it comes to children, special provisions are necessary. Young children do not have the appropriate frame of mind to make important life decisions and so require the extra protection of a guardian. The LDP believes that the best guardian of a child’s welfare is that child’s parents.

There is little evidence to show that politicians and bureaucrats are more loving or wise than parents when it comes to raising children. The LDP would defend the rights of parents against those who want to nationalise our families.

The LDP does not believe that the government should run people’s lives. John Howard is not our mother and should not be interfering in our voluntary non-violent actions. The LDP supports an individual’s freedom of choice regarding pornography and is absolutely opposed to all forms of government censorship.

Personally, the LDP is opposed to racism, sexism, homophobia and bigotry aimed at any group. However we do not think that we (or anybody else) should be able to silence people who disagree with us. Even if we disagree with what you say, we will fight for your right to say it. The LDP would defend the rights of all people – including racists, sexists, homophobes, and all sorts of bigots – to be able to express themselves freely (so long as they aren’t planning violence). The LDP is totally opposed to censorship. The truth has nothing to fear from an open debate.

Further, the LDP believes that all people should be allowed to discriminate with their own property. Pub owners should be free to deny entry for any reason (e.g. having a 'gay only' rule) and schools should be free to deny jobs for any reason (e.g. a Christian school only accepting Christian teachers).

Same as above.

While the LDP accepts the idea that movies (and other art forms) will be classified by third parties to help consumers make more informed choices, we do not believe that the government should be involved in that process.

If the Christian lobby (or anybody else) disagrees with the current classifications, they are free to offer their own classifications and advertise their opinions. People can then choose whose advice they will follow.

Previous policies towards Aboriginals have either aimed towards forcing integration or forcing cultural separation. The LDP does not believe the government should be trying to integrate or separate any community in Australia. We support natural and voluntary multiculturalism but we oppose government funded or guided multiculturalism. Culture should be allowed to evolve naturally.

The problems with Aboriginal society are not caused either by the Aboriginals or by society/history. The problem is the current incentives created by the government. The government needs to introduce secure private property rights for Aboriginals and then remove all race-based legislation and remove current regulations, taxes and restrictions that prevent Australians from achieving their goals.

The LDP is opposed to the current paternalist agenda of prohibition. Aboriginal Australians should be treated like adults, not children.

The LDP notes that people often work too much and should spend more time enjoying life. However, we don’t think it’s appropriate that we (or anybody else) impose our morals and personal choices on other people. Each person should be free to organise their own time without interference from the government. If that means some people choose to spend their time at work instead of with their family, then that is their choice. If Christians choose not to work on Sunday, that also is their choice. The government should play no part in these personal and private decisions.