Only 26 libertarians in Australia?
Are there really only 26 “anti-war” libertarians – that is, real libertarians – in Australia? Join the facebook group and prove me wrong.
For more on why foreign policy is the key to distinguishing a libertarian from a non-libertarian (or indeed a classical liberal from a non-classical liberal), here’s Walter Block’s speech on ‘plumb-line libertarianism’. Also see Robert Higgs’ article “Are Questions of War and Peace Merely One Issue Among Many for Libertarians?” Also check out Liberty Australia’s resource page on foreign policy.
Resources on secession?
Greetings, I’m writing a university paper arguing that Western Australia was legally justified when it tried to secede in 1933. I’m looking for legal theorists who present arguments in favor of secession. In particular, I’d be interested in a contractual approach. The following steps of reasoning might be involved:
The Constitution of Australia is a contract. The states entered that contract under the assumption that the commonwealth wouldn’t take over their areas of power (they have powers reserved to them under s 107 – similar to the 10th amendment in the US). We should respect original intent in interpreting the constitution. Since the Federal government has breached their promise and increasingly centralized power, the states now have a right to exit the compact (secede).
My lecturers jaw dropped to the floor– “Wha… where’d u get that argument?”
Me:”Radical legal scholars in the US”. 
Immigration debate in Melbourne
I received this email:
Just letting you know about a debate (and panel discussion) in Carlton this Thursday evening (August 12) .
The topic “Immigration: should we apply the brakes
Speakers: Sinclair Davidson (IPA) and Chuck Berger (ACF)
Panel: Cam Walker (Friends of the Earth), Arthur Dent (aka Albert Langer ….http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Langer), Jill Quirk (Sustainable Population, Australia).
Full details are here: The Monthly Argument
It would be rather useful if you mention it at Thoughts on Freedom (or anywhere else!) - we want the audience to contain an interesting mix of people, not just the usual suspects ….. trying to break the mould a bit here. Hope you can come along yourself.
History of the Libertarian Movement in Australia
For anyone who’s interested, I’ve uploaded Bill Stacey’s 1987 honors thesis to Liberty Australia. It’s a history of the libertarian movement in Australia, and I’m hoping there will be funding to publish it as a monograph at some point.
Luke McGrath (of Western Australia) has also uploaded an excellent paper on why we should privatize national defense.
My aim is to collect all Australian libertarian scholarship in one location. So if anyone knows of an unpublished honors thesis or PhD dissertation, tip me off at ssabhlok@mises.com. It has recently come to my attention that someone at ANU has written something about the Australian warfare state (adapting Robert Higgs’ work) so with luck that should be available soon.
Melbourne Reading Club update
We will be having a meeting on July 12, 6pm, at the Sherlock Holmes Inn on Collins Street. The book under discussion is Meltdown by the Austrian economist and historian Tom Woods. If you haven’t read the book yet, feel free to come along regardless as the first meeting will be mainly about introductions and setting the future direction of the club. RSVP to ssabhlok@mises.com
All are welcome, even non-libertarians. See the previous notice.
Australia’s Shy “Radical” Libertarians
I have met many libertarians, who while professing to be “Rothbardian”, radical or anarcho-capitalist in private social gatherings, turn out to be rather compromising in public – when it counts. Any possible explanation for this very common phenomenon are welcome.
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Catallaxy Files- Open Forum September 11, 2010
- Warming to the TaskI went along yesterday to see Alan Moran in the Lion’s Den. Well, not really a lion’s den; more like an opportunity to form a circular firing squad with everyone shooting at the only person in the room trying to tell them that they are asking for $500+ electricity bills with all other prices scaled [...]
- Ongoing shocks around ChristchurchA scary map that show the battering that Christchurch has continued to suffer since the first big shock. The figure in the first column appears to be the strength on the Richter scale. Courtesy of Barry Williams of the Ausralian Skeptics.
- Andrew Norton
- Skills matching for recent graduatesAndrew Carr asks if I can compare the skills mismatch of international and local students. To re-cap, a study of former overseas student migrants in 2006 found that: 18 months after their arrival found the skills match for former overseas students at the following levels: accounting 35%, business/commerce 5%, education 31%, engineering 23%, IT 35%, [...]
- Should the government change migration laws to suit universities?Australia’s universities are in a bit of a panic. With international student applications down, and much bigger drops in the ‘feeder’ colleges, the next few years are looking particularly grim. While issues such as the high dollar, student safety and more intense competition for even-more broke universities in the UK and US are affecting th […]
- Australia’s still surprisingly secure workersThe ABS released their labour mobility survey yesterday, and as I predicted two years ago Labor’s legislated job security provisions, which took effect about five months into the survey, did not stop retrenchments going up. 3.7% of workers who were employed in the year to February 2010 were retrenched, compared to 1.8% under WorkChoices in [...]
- Skills matching for recent graduates
- IPA news
- Expect Libs to go in for the kill September 7, 2010Despite calls for consensus politics, for the next three years Australians should expect a Liberal-led opposition to...
- Minority government gridlock good for the ALP September 7, 2010Labor lost the war. But it won the reconstruction handily. Nobody thought the Gillard team could come together as it did...
- A cynical look at parliamentary reform September 6, 2010We're usually a distrustful lot. When it was revealed Andrew Wilkie had asked for federal funds to redevelop the Royal...
- Expect Libs to go in for the kill September 7, 2010
