Australian Libertarian Society

• Committee

John Humphreys is the founder of the ALS, a PhD student, and the Director of the Human Capital Project.
Terje Petersen is a Sydney based IT professional and a two-time candidate for the Liberal Democratic Party.
Tim Andrews is a Executive Director of the Australian Taxpayers Alliance.
Robert Guerrero is a small businessman based on the Gold Coast. 
Dani Harris is a law student at the University of Queensland (UQ).
Joseph Clark has a PhD in economics and works in the financial markets.
Dom Vasta is a science student, and is the coordinator for the “ALS Friedman club” at UQ. 
Jim Fryar was the lead Qld Senate candidate for the LDP in 2010.
Gabe Buckley is the President of the Qld branch of the LDP.
Justin Campbell is an economist & occasional contributor to the ALS. 
Frank Redpath is the web guy.

Other occasional contributors have included Dr Peter Rohde, Andrew Russell, Krik Fletcher, Rafe Champion, Chris Vinall, David Leyonhjelm, and various others. If you would like to contribute an article, please contact the ALS (details below).

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• History

The Australian Libertarian Society (ALS) was founded by John Humphreys in January 2000, and is an organisation dedicated to the principles of individual liberty, free markets and shrinking the size of government.

Since 2000 the ALS has been involved in a variety activities, including a pro-trade protest (which got national media coverage), a radio debate on JJJ, contributing a speaker to the inaugural Festival of Dangerous Ideas, publishing discussion papers and a newsletter (2000-2002), contributing to the Celebrate Capitalism campaign, hosting regular dinners around Australia, and helping to bring together an online libertarian community. The ALS is an Associate Supporter of The International Coalition Against Prohibition.

In January 2003, on its three year anniversary, the ALS moved to its new online home at http://www.libertarian.org.au, and started a blog with continuous commentary on current affairs, public policy and libertarian issues. In 2006 the ALS blog merged with the “Thoughts on Freedom” blog, which had been set up by Sukrit Sabhlok. The blog was discontinued in 2012, though the ALS continues to publish regular updates about libertarian events and occasional articles.

The ALS has run occasional projects, including the “peace project” during 2003 which argued against the invasion of Iraq. In 2006 the ALS set up the “Kyoto campaign” which argued against drastic policy action on climate change, and has gone on to co-sponsor several of the Heartland’s International Conference on Climate Change, as well as sign up as an official supporter of the Stop Gillard’s Carbon Tax website.

In 2004 the ALS helped to coordinate several candidates at the federal election, running as independents (NSW Senate) or candidates for the “liberals for forests” (Queensland & Victoria Senate), or the “Outdoor Recreation Party” (Eden-Monaro, in NSW). The candidates in Queensland and Victoria helped to prevent the election of extra Green Senators. Since the federal registration of the Liberal Democratic Party, the ALS has not felt the need to run independent libertarian candidates.

Since 2010 the ALS has run semi-regular “Friedman dinners” in Brisbane, which have included speakers such as Prof Jim Allen, the Hon Bill O’Chee, Dr Jason Potts, the Hon Peter Reith, Prof Judith Sloan, Dr Jonathon Crowe, the Hon Mal Brough, and the Hon Gary Johns.