Libertarian state New South Wales (NSW) MP, John Ruddick, hopes the Liberal Party can reconnect with its founding principles of classical liberalism.
He says his former party’s support for the state’s hate speech laws goes against these values.
“It’s still got magnificent founding principles, which are basically libertarian. Robert Menzies was a free-speech radical,” Ruddick told The Epoch Times as part of a Hate Speech Laws conference with the Australian Jewish Association.
“They still have hope that the party can turn around. But I look at the last [federal] Liberal government … and I see a very disappointing government.
He said the situation was the same at state level, saying that while the party was in office from 2011 to 2023 it strayed off course.
“I don’t have too much faith in it,” Ruddick said.
Ruddick was a member of the party for 25 years and made several attempts to reform its internal workings.
He left the Liberal Party in 2021 following disagreement over the party’s support for COVID-19 lockdown policies.
He later joined the Liberal Democrats, which became the Libertarian Party Australia, based on traditional libertarian principles like less government involvement in the lives of the individual.
The party has in recent years absorbed individuals either disaffected with the major parties, or with COVID-19 policy, including former Queensland Premier Campbell Newman and former Liberal member for Hughes, Craig Kelly.
Hate Speech Laws Not What the Liberals Are About
The Criminal Code Amendment (Hate Crimes) Bill 2025 was passed at the federal level in February in the wake of a series of anti-Semitic incidents, including one that was revealed to be a fake terrorism plot.Key changes to the Criminal Code Act 1995 mean “advocating force or violence” is now criminalised.
These offences no longer require intent for force or violence to actually occur. Now, it is enough if a person is “reckless” about whether force or violence happens.
But the Liberal Party’s bipartisan support of these laws goes against its free-speech foundations, according to Ruddick.
It also represented another moment when he felt his actions in leaving the party were justified.
“As we know, over the period of December-January what we saw almost daily were these vile, anti-Semitic attacks,” Ruddick said.
“It was alarming. And the politicians were saying, ‘What can we do about it?’ [NSW Premier] Chris Minns said, ‘We’re going to be tough.’ Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton said ‘We’re going to be tough.’
“What can a politician do? They can only bring in laws—they don’t have any other options. They rammed them through, and we [in NSW] were up until 4 a.m. They called them anti-hate speech laws.”
Ruddick believes the laws were enacted more for popularity than to make Australians feel safer.
A Continued Focus on Free Speech
Ruddick said the Libertarians would continue to promote an Australian version of the U.S. First Amendment that guarantees freedom of speech.“One of the first things I did when I got elected was I proposed an amendment to the NSW Constitution saying, ‘We should have constitutional protection for free speech,’ and it didn’t get sufficient support,” he said.
‘It’s Alarming What We’ve Seen in the UK’
Ruddick is concerned about how hate speech laws are being enforced under the Starmer ministry in the UK.A former soldier, Daffron Williams, was jailed last November after pleading guilty to inciting anti-Islamic racial hatred in a series of social media posts, one reading:
“Civil war is here. The only thing missing is bullets, that’s the next step.”
Cardiff Crown Court was told the Iraq and Afghanistan veteran, who has PTSD, sent the messages before and after three girls were stabbed to death at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport in July, sparking riots.
Ruddick fears that Australia’s hate speech laws could lead to overreach and people being jailed due to “thought crimes.”
But he also sees President Donald Trump’s election victory—and his championing of free speech—as a beacon of hope for Western nations.
“It is alarming what we’re seeing in many parts of Europe, particularly in western and northern Europe,” he said.
“But why I’m optimistic is that in 1979, Britain elected a new prime minister, Margaret Thatcher.
“And she had an agenda of radical free-market reforms, privatisation, and all these good things Libertarians believe in.
Libertarians and One Nation Can Work Together
Ruddick said the Libertarians and One Nation, a fellow conservative party, have the potential to work together in the upcoming federal election.“We very much hope that the Libertarians and One Nation can have a two-for-two preference deal across the country,” he said.
“I hope Libertarian senators get elected across the country, but if they don’t and One Nation senators do get elected, then I’m 80 percent as happy.
