New senator David Leyonhjelm calls for lower taxes, greater freedom

David Crowe
JULY 09, 2014
THE AUSTRALIAN
AUSTRALIANS should be freed from government rules even when those laws try to save them from themselves, one of the nation’s new Senators has declared, in a strident call for lower taxes and greater freedom.
Liberal Democratic Party senator David Leyonhjelm took on both major parties in his first speech to the upper house by urging a retreat from excessive government power in areas ranging from national security to welfare.
“Liberty includes the right to make bad choices,” Senator Leyonhjelm told the Senate as he argued against curbs on tobacco, alcohol and marijuana or other laws that seek to tell people how to live their lives.
The same philosophy led Senator Leyonhjelm to call for an end to bans on same sex marriage and the freedom for individuals to choose to end their lives before they become feeble and need help.
Government power should be limited to protecting people from things that limit their freedoms — such as violence, threats, theft and fraud, he said.
But governments should step back from using taxpayer funds on services that people could provide for themselves — including, he suggested, the ABC and possibly hospitals.
Senator Leyonhjelm made it clear he wanted smaller government, lower taxes, the repeal of legislation rather than votes for more of it and stronger protection for property rights.
“Our liberty is eroded when our money is taken as taxes and used on something we could have done for ourselves at lower cost,” he said.
“It is eroded when our taxes are used to pay for things that others will provide, whether on a charitable basis or for profit.
“That includes TV and radio stations, electricity services, railways, bus services and of course schools and hospitals.
“It is eroded when our money is taken and then returned to us as welfare, with the only real beneficiaries being the public servants who administer its collection and distribution.
“It is eroded when our money is used on things that are a complete waste, like pink batts, unwanted school halls and accommodation subsidies for wealthy foreign students.
“It is eroded when the money we have earned is taken and given to those of working age who simply choose never to work.
“Reducing taxes — any kind of taxes — will always have my support.”
A member of both the Liberal and Labor parties in earlier days, Senator Leyonhjelm declared himself a “libertarian” or “classical liberal” and cited philosophers John Stuart Mill, John Locke and David Hume to warn against excessive government power.
Senator Leyonhjelm told the Senate that his opposition to the Vietnam War in the 1970s was a formative experience because he refused to register for national service, which meant he might have gone to jail if the Whitlam government had not been elected.
“Being forced to serve in the army, with the potential to be sent to Vietnam, was a powerful education in excessive government power,” he said.
The fight over the right to abortion sent a similar message at that time, he said. “I knew some women affected and could never see how the jackboot of government improved things.”
A belief in fundamental property rights underpinned most of Senator Leyonhjelm’s speech as he declared he would always vote for low taxation and would oppose policies to erode the value of personal property.
He admitted to holding left-wing views in the past — “as the saying goes, if you’re not a socialist at 20 you have no heart but if you’re still a socialist at 40 you have no brains” — but changed his view upon seeing how his taxes were used.
“Not long after I started full-time work as a veterinarian I recall looking at my annual tax return and being horrified at the amount of money I had handed over to the government,” he said.
“When I looked for signs of value for that money, I found little to reassure me. To this day I’m still looking.”