He was Federal Parliament’s first libertarian senator. Is he the last? - Max Koslowski, Brisbane Times:
February 23, 2019 - "'I won't miss Parliament much,' Senator David Leyonhjelm says.... Leyonhjelm, 66, has one more sitting week before he steps down to contest the NSW state election in March, but if you asked him about his six years in Federal Parliament you would think he wanted to leave sooner....
"Leyonhjelm is famously consistent. He is frustrated about any interference with his personal freedom, whether from government or infamy. In his political work, too, he has a well-earned reputation for being a consistent negotiator - a characteristic that was echoed by both major parties in response to his valedictory address.
"Labor's Senate leader Penny Wong recalled sitting down with Leyonhjelm and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten for tea....'He's got a really consistent view. He actually has a philosophical view'.... The government's Senate leader, Mathias Cormann agrees: 'He was the patron saint of many unfashionable causes here in this place, but only if they were consistent with freedom of enterprise and the individual'....
"Leyonhjelm is the only self-described libertarian in Parliament - libertarianism is a belief in personal liberty, free markets and small government - and says he is the first and only libertarian MP ever. His party, the Liberal Democrats, has won three state seats since the senator was re-elected in the 2016 double dissolution.
"Leyonhjelm does not hide how re-election fears influenced his decision to switch into state politics himself - and he's frank on the game of electoral roulette his party plays before every election. (Voters often accidentally vote for the Liberal Democrats, confusing them with the Liberal Party.)....
"Libertarianism has had little success in Australia. Two libertarian minor parties - the Libertarian Party of Australia and the Workers' Party - contested state and federal elections from the mid-'70s to the mid-'80s, but never won a seat, and barely resurfaced once the Hawke-Keating market reforms took hold. Leyonhjelm reckons the lack of libertarians in Australia stems from our historic relationship with government....
"John Roskam, executive director of the Institute of Public Affairs, and a friend of Leyonhjelm's, agrees.... 'Libertarianism has to overturn a 200-year political culture.... I have lost count of how many Liberal MPs have come up to me and said "what David says is right and I wish I could publicly agree with him but I can't".'
"Roskam believes the insurgency is coming. He is convinced 10 to 15 per cent of voters support libertarian ideals, and that they can achieve an electoral status similar to the Greens'. As the Greens made Labor stronger, Roskam says, libertarianism can apply ideological pressure to the Liberal Party: 'David's legacy has been huge because he has started to put libertarianism on the political map in this country.'"
'via Blog this'
February 23, 2019 - "'I won't miss Parliament much,' Senator David Leyonhjelm says.... Leyonhjelm, 66, has one more sitting week before he steps down to contest the NSW state election in March, but if you asked him about his six years in Federal Parliament you would think he wanted to leave sooner....
"Leyonhjelm is famously consistent. He is frustrated about any interference with his personal freedom, whether from government or infamy. In his political work, too, he has a well-earned reputation for being a consistent negotiator - a characteristic that was echoed by both major parties in response to his valedictory address.
"Labor's Senate leader Penny Wong recalled sitting down with Leyonhjelm and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten for tea....'He's got a really consistent view. He actually has a philosophical view'.... The government's Senate leader, Mathias Cormann agrees: 'He was the patron saint of many unfashionable causes here in this place, but only if they were consistent with freedom of enterprise and the individual'....
"Leyonhjelm is the only self-described libertarian in Parliament - libertarianism is a belief in personal liberty, free markets and small government - and says he is the first and only libertarian MP ever. His party, the Liberal Democrats, has won three state seats since the senator was re-elected in the 2016 double dissolution.
"Leyonhjelm does not hide how re-election fears influenced his decision to switch into state politics himself - and he's frank on the game of electoral roulette his party plays before every election. (Voters often accidentally vote for the Liberal Democrats, confusing them with the Liberal Party.)....
"Libertarianism has had little success in Australia. Two libertarian minor parties - the Libertarian Party of Australia and the Workers' Party - contested state and federal elections from the mid-'70s to the mid-'80s, but never won a seat, and barely resurfaced once the Hawke-Keating market reforms took hold. Leyonhjelm reckons the lack of libertarians in Australia stems from our historic relationship with government....
"John Roskam, executive director of the Institute of Public Affairs, and a friend of Leyonhjelm's, agrees.... 'Libertarianism has to overturn a 200-year political culture.... I have lost count of how many Liberal MPs have come up to me and said "what David says is right and I wish I could publicly agree with him but I can't".'
"Roskam believes the insurgency is coming. He is convinced 10 to 15 per cent of voters support libertarian ideals, and that they can achieve an electoral status similar to the Greens'. As the Greens made Labor stronger, Roskam says, libertarianism can apply ideological pressure to the Liberal Party: 'David's legacy has been huge because he has started to put libertarianism on the political map in this country.'"
'via Blog this'
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