Peter Whelan

Welcome to the Liberal Democratic Party.

As an engineer and business man, I have never been happy with people telling me how to run my life. I have always preferred to make my own decisions and live with the consequences. If I made a mistake, I did not blame others; I learned from the mistake and tried not to do it again.

While I did not always approve of people who made unwise decisions regarding their safety or lifestyle, I did not consider it my business to intervene or to expect the government to do so. I always had a ‘live and let live’ outlook.

It wasn’t until a few years ago that I discovered my outlook was generally known as libertarianism and that many others shared it. When I discovered the LDP was based on libertarian principles, I knew I had finally found a political party that represented my beliefs.

If you are similarly fed up with excessive bureaucracy and government intrusion into your life, the LDP is the party for you.

Australians were once proud of their independence and initiative, but are now over-governed, over-taxed and subject to too many rules, regulations, laws and by-laws. As a consequence, too many have lost the ability to think for themselves and look after themselves and their families.

We have become a “nanny nation”.

As National President of the LDP I have identified our main aims this year will include educating the media and getting the message of individual liberty and personal responsibility across to more Australians.

We will also be increasing our membership base to enable registration in each State, and seeking financial support from those who see us as “the true liberals”.

I encourage you to join us.

The Eureka Flag

The rebellion at the Eureka Stockade in Ballarat, Victoria in 1854, was significant in the early history of Australia as it was a protest against taxation and Government oppression as well as being a fight for democratic representation.

The rebellion was brought about by grievances over heavily priced mining supplies, the expense of a miner’s licence and the overbearing actions of the government and its agents, the police and military. While the events which sparked the rebellion were specific to the Ballarat gold fields, the underlying grievances had been the subject of public meetings, civil disobedience and deputations across the various Victorian gold fields for almost three years.

The miners' demands included the right to vote and purchase land, and the reduction of license fees. Agitation for these demands commenced with the Forest Creek Monster Meeting of December 1851 and included the formation of the Anti-Gold Licencing Association at nearby Bendigo in 1853.

Although swiftly and violently put down, the Eureka rebellion was a watershed event in Australian political activism. The preceding three years of agitation for the miners' demands, combined with mass public support in Melbourne for the captured 'rebels' when they were placed on trial, resulted in the introduction of full male suffrage for elections for the lower house in the Victorian parliament.

The role of the Eureka Stockade in generating public support for these demands extended well beyond the goldfields, resulting in Eureka being identified with the birth of democracy in Australia.

We swear by the Southern Cross to stand truly by each other and fight to defend our rights and liberties.

Beneath the starry flag of rebellion, that oath was taken by hundreds of gold diggers at Ballarat in 1854. The Eureka rebellion led by Peter Lalor was a short lived revolt against petty officialdom and although a military failure, led to political and personal benefits for many Australians.

The Liberal Democratic Party has chosen to adopt the Eureka flag as a symbol of the fight for civil liberties, democratic process and against excessive government interference.