David f
You say, "Party names which might confuse voters should not be allowed"

If so, I propose that the so-called "Liberal Party” be required to change its name. It's becoming less and less Liberal by the week.

Don
The data on public sector employment are from the ABS:
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/6248.0.55.002/

I disagree with quite a lot that Leyonhjelm says, but it is a fresh perspective and internally consistent. But I’m always suspicious of yet another professional politician telling us he’s not just another professional politician. I’m waiting to see what he actually delivers.

@ David F:

If David's comment is in response to something I posted, then he has misread my words. Plantagenet didn't say that Leyonhjelme is a Liberal, either. He stated that the Senator i to the far right of the Libs.

Leyonhjelm was, however, formerly a member of the Libs but parted company with them. Earlier, he was a senior figure in the Labor Party.

I have not checked, but with hobbies such as his, he may well have also been a member of a Fishin' Shootin' and Rootin' Party at one stage.

My point was and remains that he has had a peripatetic political career, so it is not surprising to find that he has arrived with some half-baked policies. It is also not surprising to find that he has few supporters.

Regarding his true electorate, wasn't he in Block 1 of the NSW Senate paper, with less than 2/3rds of a quota? In which case, he truly represents the Donkeys.

And it shows.

In your dreams Chum.

David

So we have Shadow Minister, runner, Jardine K. Jardine, and JBowyer all lining up to give you their fulsome support mate. Wow! I'm just wondering how on earth you talked them around on your open door policy for immigration?

“The Government’s current approach to stopping them is expensive, vulnerable to developments in partner countries outside our control, and distracts the Navy from its primary purpose. Moreover, it lacks compassion and treats foreigners as something to be feared rather than as potential contributors to our society. There is a huge opportunity for mutual benefit for economic refugees and incumbent Australians. The solution is to open the front door and allow them legal entry upon payment of a fee.”

http://catallaxyfiles.com/2014/05/30/guest-post-david-leyonhjelm-open-the-front-door/comment-page-6/

Extraordinary! Congratulations.

Libertarianism is the cry of predators. Liberty for predators means tyranny for prey.

To avoid being prey, people coalesce to maintain a state with coercive powers. To avoid being prey of the state, people control it through democracy. Reality is partly but not fully described by this. Avoidance is incomplete because representative (i.e. far from democratic) government allows predators to operate through the state by corruption (funding political parties and indirectly suborning other instruments of the state such as through old boy networks and purchased think tanks and heavy investment in "news" media).

The misnamed "Liberal Democrats" seek not only to expose us all to untrammelled economic predation but also physical death and injury by sweeping away John Howard's curbs on every nutter who seeks an arsenal of deadly weapons.

The genie was let out of the bottle by the introduction of tickabox Senate voting allowing party apparatchiks to allocate preferences not on policy but on backroom negotiations not only with groups that might actually stand for something of national benefit but also with all kinds of freaks, hobgoblins and monsters who seek leveraged access to parliament unwanted by the voters.

The Senate farce urgently needs reform. Perhaps tickabox for the parties arranged preferentially between the parties only, followed by preferences below the line for as many other candidates as the voter wishes to include.

Even better would be to introduce democracy - binding citizen-initiated referenda to limit predation by the state

SteeleRedux

u r not telling that David Leyonhjelm is as deceitful as the Greens ? If so I definetly renege on my support. Have the Greens apologised yet to the families they enticed to their deaths on the sea?