The Federal Election will be held this Saturday, 3 May 2025.
Liberty Victoria does not endorse any candidate or party in this, or any other, election. Instead, we seek always to defend and extend human rights and civil liberties and encourage our supporters all Australians to think deeply about where their candidates stand on these issues.
Our four working groups have each set out three priorities that we would ask you to consider when you fill in your ballot to choose our government for the next three years. If you are fortunate, these issues may not personally impact you or those you love. If that is the case, we ask that you consider them for the sake of the people you don’t know but for whom they may be life changing. At Liberty Victoria we see them as important to shaping the kind of country we all live in for the next three years and beyond.
Government and Equality
Criminal Justice
People seeking refuge and asylum
Privacy
We have been very concerned about an increasing Trumpism in Australian Politics, something that our Immediate Past President Michael Stanton SC wrote about recently here. While we strive to avoid commenting on individual candidates, Mr Dutton has made statements expressing hostility to civil liberties organisations and appears to deliberately misrepresent our role and position on issues. In light of these politicial trends we feel compelled to make our supporters aware of direct opposition to our fundamental principles expressed by the leader of a major party. We know that there are good people on all sides of politics dedicated to improving our democracy, but we’d ask you to consider whether we are in danger of following a kind of authoritarian populism that we’ve seen emerge overseas.
Lastly, and as we’ve observed previously, at this stage in the electoral cycle it should be remembered that prisoners in Australia serving sentences of three years’ imprisonment and longer are prohibited from voting in federal elections. Liberty Victoria is strongly opposed to this systemic disenfranchisement. Rehabilitation of offenders has long been recognised as one of the great objectives of the criminal law, and the stigmatic exclusion from participation in the democratic process does nothing to assist in that process.
Thank you for considering how your vote will send a message about what matters, including the importance of human rights and civil liberties.