Pinching the theme of this recent MPSIMS thread, courtesy of the High Court Australian democracy has almost had another small win.
Specifically relating to those right wing attention whores from the micro party known as the Liberal Democrats, described in the mainstream press as “a hardline liberal party that demands abolition of government welfare as well as the minimum wage, seatbelts and bike helmets. It backs legalisation of marijuana and increased freedom to access pornography”.
Liberal Democrats have been operating federally under that name since 2008 but moved, pre-empting a High Court decision, to change the party name to become the Liberty and Democracy Party. But when the writs for the May 21st election were issued this action was put on hold. Bugger
You might think a political party seeking to officially change it’s name on the very cusp of an election being called might cause a degree of logistical and messaging issues.
But the Liberal Democrat primary electoral strategy has been to glean name recognition via free press for undeliverable fringe policies and to siphon off votes from people who thought they actually voting for the Liberal Party.
The Liberal Democrat political high water mark was 2013 when the oleaginous reptile and “libertarian purist” David Leyonhjelm was elected as NSW federal senator on the back of a fortuitous alignment of political stars in 1) having an party name which could be readily confused other parties eg the Liberal Party, the Australian Democrats and the Christian Democratic Party, 2) lucking out by getting the first spot on the (very large) Senate ballot and 3) the consequences of a byzantine preference swapping deal with other micro parties including the Outdoor Recreation Party, the Smokers’ Rights Party, Republican Party of Australia and the Australian Sex Party.
He then doubled down on his luck by being re-elected in 2016 only due to it being a double dissolution election and the Senate quota being halved.
Them’s were the rules at the time and give the devil his due for exploiting the allowed loopholes. Not that he achieved anything of note in his term, though plenty which was obnoxious. His initiative to allow importing the Adler lever action shotgun was subverted, and his stoush with Senator Hanson-Young resulted in a defamation case which he lost to the tune of $120,000 in damages. Not that he’s paid it yet.
It was illustrative that he appointed Helen Dale as his senior policy advisor. Dale, writing as Helen Demidenko won the 1995 Miles Franklin Prize for her novel “The hand that signed the paper” with a literary hoax, a fraudulent account of a Ukrainian family’s collaboration with the Nazis during the Holocaust.
Astute enough of the political realities to not try his luck the third time he resigned in 2019 to contest for political office in the smaller pond of the NSW Legislative Assembly and abjectly failed. His Chief of Staff stood in his place on the Federal ticket and also flamed out.
Like with the exits of Cory Bernardi, Brian Burston, Bob Day and Fraser Anning the darker corners of Federal Parliament are becoming a bit more civilised.