Australia's Libertarian Party of New South Wales [LPNSW] has won at least nine council seats in the most recent municipal elections.
Anti-smart cities Libertarians score local council election wins after NSW Liberals’ nomination debacle | The Guardian | Catie McLeod:
October 3, 2024 - "Libertarians who fear 'smart cities' technology will be used to curtail freedoms have been elected to councils across New South Wales.... 'Smart cities' is a broad term that encompasses the use of technology to collect data on people’s movements to help guide local government planning on matters such as traffic, rubbish collection and reducing carbon emissions.... The Libertarian party and at least two independents who have spoken out against smart cities together won 11 seats at the NSW local government elections.
"In their 'local council freedom manifesto', which is available on their website, the Libertarians promise to “take a chainsaw to” smart cities, which they label a 'dumb idea'. 'If we don’t take a stand against so-called "smart cities" now then we are on the slippery slope to a China-style, 24/7 surveillance state and social credit system,' the manifesto said.
"The Libertarians’ sole NSW state MP, John Ruddick, said his party was 'opposed to anything to do with smart cities, 15-minute cities, the whole lot'. He said describing the Libertarians’ 'fears' as a conspiracy theory was an 'insult designed to shut down debate'....
"The Libertarians picked up nine council seats after preferences were counted on Tuesday, with only Liverpool still to be called, down from the 15 seats they had expected to win immediately after the 14 September elections."
Libertarians take a page out of Greens’ playbook in bid to ‘gobble up’ disaffected Liberal voters | The Guardian | Tamsin Rose:
Libertarian state MP John Ruddick.
September 17, 2024 - "John Ruddick, NSW’s sole Libertarian MP, said the strong local government election results had buoyed the party and it would now seek to gain more seats in both houses of parliament at the upcoming federal and state elections.... While the party has typically only garnered about 1 to 2% of the vote at elections over the past decade, Ruddick said the weekend’s council election results have Libertarians believing that 'we can do a lot better than that'.
"'We want to become a 10 to 12% party on the right and we want to do what the Greens have done to Labor,' he said. 'The Greens have dragged Labor to the left. We want to drag the Coalition to the right, the pro-free market right.' Ruddick said growth was possible for the Libertarian party, especially in men under 40 who feel their 'employment prospects are hampered because of their gender'.
"The Libertarians – formerly known as the Liberal Democrats – have advocated for small government, a 'laissez-faire' approach to town planning and campaigned against the 'woke agenda'....
"Libertarians will pick up two spots in Camden, with an outside chance at a third.
"Labor’s Sally Quinnell represents Camden at the state parliament. She said the Libertarian party ran a very effective, simple campaign and was not surprised it resonated with constituents. 'People were looking for a right-leaning alternative and they found it,' she said. Quinnell, whose husband ran on the Labor ticket on Saturday, said people were moving away from major parties and they needed to be taken seriously."
LPNSW website: https://www.lpnsw.org.au/
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