Civil Liberties and Individual Freedom
The LDP supports individuals' ownership of themselves and their right to pursue their own lifestyles, make their own decisions and engage in their own hobbies and interests as long as they do not directly harm other people or their property.
However, with freedom comes responsibility. The LDP believes that individuals should also take responsibility for their own decisions in life.
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Competitive Federalism
The LDP supports competitive federalism as it was intended by the founders of the constitution.
Where possible, government activities should be decentralised to the State level to allow the benefits of governmental competition, policy experimentation and individual choice. This will also allow the removal of bureaucratic duplication of federal and state agencies.
Democracy
The LDP believes in a constitutional democracy.
The LDP supports voluntary voting, citizens initiated referendums, fixed parliamentary terms, the option of recall elections, constitutional protection of private property and sunset clauses on legislation. These reforms represent a tangible step forward in promoting both liberty and democracy in Australia.
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Deregulate and Privatise
The LDP supports the privatisation policies of ALP and Coalition governments over the past 20 years. We believe this process should continue and support an immediate end to state and federal ownership of the ABC, SBS, Australia Post, Medibank Private, electricity generation corporations, and bus, ferry and rail services.
The LDP also supports a new round of regulation reforms modelled on the National Competition Council, focused on assessing all regulations for their impacts on productivity and economic welfare.
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Energy
The LDP does not believe in either subsidising or unfairly taxing any particular source of energy. Energy is a vital element of any economy and the LDP recognises the valuable contribution the energy sector (and especially coal) makes to the Australian economy.
The LDP would not restrict nuclear energy or uranium mining in Australia.
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Environment
The LDP values the natural environment within the context of a prosperous society that provides equal protection under the law and is based on respect for individual freedom, personal responsibility, small government and the defence of private property.
We recognise that societies in which government is smaller rather than bigger have produced better environmental quality and a better and fairer outcome for all members of society, including the poor.
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Firearms
The LDP supports the right to own firearms for sport, hunting, collecting and self defence.
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Free Trade
The LDP supports the free international trade in goods, services and capital. We are committed to achieve the APEC goals of complete free trade by 2010.
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Global Warming
The LDP acknowledges that there is scientific evidence to indicate a trend towards global warming and the possibility that humans may be partly responsible. However, it does not consider governments have the competence to address the problem and looks to market responses instead.
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Health
The LDP proposes to wrest back from government and return to consumers control of individual health care choices. It proposes to rescue people from a situation in which they are dependent on decisions by government to one in which they are able to make decisions for themselves and to provide for themselves.
By cutting back the proportion of health care funded directly by government and re-aligning incentives, enormous savings can be made by reducing the waste and excessive costs of a public system. At the same time, relaxation of regulatory controls will allow new organisations providing health services to emerge that will help to limit costs while improving quality.
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Immigration
The LDP supports immigration and believes immigrants generally provide a net social and economic benefit to Australia. It supports expanding opportunities to live and work in Australia while carefully guarding opportunities to receive welfare or become full citizens.
The LDP also supports additional “free immigration agreements” with appropriate countries (Japan, Singapore, Canada, Sweden, etc) similar to the current agreement with New Zealand and along the same lines as “free trade agreements”.
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Labour Market Regulation
The LDP supports a free market in labour and opposes excessive labour market regulation and the minimum wage. The LDP would replace the minimum wage with a negative income tax to support low-income earners. Details are provided in the Welfare policy.
Lifestyle Choices
Adults must be free to make their own decisions without interference by the government or requiring its approval. Adults are not like children and do not need anyone to make their choices for them. They can choose where to live, which job to take, where to go on holiday and what to do with their money, and live with the consequences. Similarly, they can choose their particular lifestyle including such things as how to live, whether to live alone or with others and who to live with.
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Nuclear Power
There is a longstanding perception that nuclear power plants are expensive and dangerous with the potential for accidents and leaks outweighing the potential benefits they could provide. There are also concerns about what to do with nuclear waste products such as spent fuel rods.
Whether or not these concerns were once valid, they are certainly not valid now. Advances in the design of nuclear power plants mean that they are now safe and produce quite small quantities of waste. Moreover, waste can now be safely stored indefinitely.
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Property Rights
The LDP believes that people have the right to own and control private property and that the only legitimate way to deal with each other is through voluntary exchange. It believes that maintaining the safety and security of the Australian people and their property must be the government’s first priority.
The LDP supports a shift in security resources away from victimless crimes (seatbelts, bicycle helmets, drugs) and towards preventing physical and property crimes such as assault, rape and theft.
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School Education
The LDP opposes the state-federal jurisdictional duplication in education policy and believes that school funding and regulation should be decentralised and devolved to the state level.
At the state level the LDP supports the introduction of school vouchers to allow greater competition between schools and greater parental choice.
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Smoking
It is everyone's right to control the property they own, and everyone's right to determine the standards of behaviour on their own property.
Just as a private individual has the right to dictate whether visitors or guests may smoke in their lounge-room or their car, so too the owner of a bar or restaurant should have the right to determine whether smoking should or should not be permitted on their premises.
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Taxation
The LDP believes we need significant cuts in income tax. It supports the 30/30 tax system where nobody pays income tax on their first $30,000 and there is a flat 30% income tax on income above $30,000. The LDP would also bring all taxes into line so that the same tax applied on all income - whether wages, capital gain, company profits or fringe benefits.
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Traffic Laws
The LDP believes traffic laws should strike a better balance between safety and the need for efficient travel over long distances. The balance is currently determined by public servants, whereas it should be a matter for the community.
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Victimless Crimes
The LDP does not generally support the criminalisation of victimless crimes. Wherever possible it will seek to reduce the intrusion of government into these areas.
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Welfare
Economic growth has led to all Australians (including the poor) getting richer and more money going to charity. Consequently there is less and less need for our large and expensive welfare system. The LDP supports the replacement of all current welfare programs with a comprehensive negative income tax that provides a basic standard of living and some assistance to the working poor.
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Voluntary Euthanasia
The LDP is committed to enacting legislation to allow all adult Australians of sound mind the right to assisted suicide provided there are appropriate safety mechanisms to ensure consent is freely and rationally given.
It also supports the free speech right to provide those who may wish to end their lives the information they require to do so.
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