David Leyonhjelm
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David Ean Leyonhjelm ( "lion-helm"; born 1 April 1952) is an Australian former politician. He was a
Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...
for
New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
, representing the Liberal Democratic Party from 2014 to 2019. Having been elected at the 2013 federal election, he took office on 1 July 2014, and was re-elected in the 2016 full Senate election. He resigned from the Senate in March 2019 to stand for the
Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...
at the 2019 New South Wales state election, but failed to be elected. Before being elected to federal parliament, Leyonhjelm worked as a veterinarian and then as an
agribusiness Agribusiness is the industry, enterprises, and the field of study of value chains in agriculture and in the bio-economy, in which case it is also called bio-business or bio-enterprise. The primary goal of agribusiness is to maximize profit ...
consultant. He also writes columns for several Australian publications, with a concentration on rural issues.


Personal life and business career

David Leyonhjelm was born in Nhill in the Wimmera, in western Victoria and was raised in Heywood, on the dairy farm of his parents Bryan and Jean Leyonhjelm.Sean McComish (8 October 2013)
"Few people in Australia had heard of David Leyonhjelm"
– ''The Warrnambool Standard''. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
The family is of Swedish noble origin; the 'Leijonhielm' barony was granted in 1719. He was the oldest of four children, and as a teenager trapped rabbits and worked in a shoe shop to help support his family. When he was 15, his parents separated, and he lived with his mother in
Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
, where he attended Dandenong High School.Ben Potter (26 October 2013)
"Libertarianism gets a loudspeaker"
– '' The Australian Financial Review''. Retrieved from
Factiva Factiva is a business information and research tool owned by Dow Jones & Company. Factiva aggregates content from both licensed and free sources. Providing organizations with search, alerting, dissemination, and other information management c ...
, 6 May 2014.
Leyonhjelm later won a scholarship to study veterinary science at the
University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...
, studying alongside Denis Napthine, a future Premier of Victoria. He has since completed
Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...
and
Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular ...
degrees at
Macquarie University Macquarie University ( ) is a Public university, public research university in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the Sydney metropolitan area. ...
. After gaining his initial degree, he worked as a practising veterinarian for a time, both in Australia and overseas, and later became involved in marketing and management roles in the animal health industry.Senators-elected: terms commencing 1 July 2014: David Leyonhjelm (Senator-elect)
– Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
In 1989, Leyonhjelm was a founding director of Baron Strategic Services, an
agribusiness Agribusiness is the industry, enterprises, and the field of study of value chains in agriculture and in the bio-economy, in which case it is also called bio-business or bio-enterprise. The primary goal of agribusiness is to maximize profit ...
consultancy firm with which he remains involved. He later served as director of the federally funded Gene Technology Information Unit (GTIU), which was established by the Keating government to offer "accurate and unbiased advice about the new gene technologies". Leyonhjelm lives with his wife, Amanda, in Sydney, but also owns a rural property in Hargraves, a locality near Mudgee in the Central West region of NSW. A shooting enthusiast, he is the president of the Sydney-based Inner West Hunters Club, and takes pleasure in his success in winning his grade in New South Wales for several years, shooting metallic silhouette targets with small-bore pistols. Also a former secretary of the Farm Writers' Association of New South Wales, Leyonhjelm had a column in ''Rural Business'' magazine for 20 years. He also wrote a column, "Agribuzz", for Fairfax Rural Media (formerly Rural Press), and for " Business Spectator" and writes regularly in '' The Australian Financial Review''.


Early political activities

Politically, Leyonhjelm was a member of Young Labor during the 1970s with the goal of ending compulsory military conscription.Nina Ubaldi (24 September 2013)
"Liberty and Vita Weets: David Leyonhjelm
– '' Honi Soit''. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
He later joined the
Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...
, but resigned his membership in 1996 in protest against the stricter firearm laws introduced by John Howard.''"He left the Liberals because of John Howard's crackdown on guns following the Port Arthur massacre, describing it as "a disgraceful attack on law-abiding citizens"'' Liz Foschia and Mhairi McClymont (9 September 2013)
"NSW sends pro-gun Liberal Democrat David Leyonhjelm to Senate"
– Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
Leyonhjelm had been a member of the Shooters Party since 1992, and was chair for a period of five years.Sarah Blake (6 September 2013)
"Men of many parties have Liberals in their sights"
– ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...
''. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
Having fallen out with its founder, John Tingle, he later left the party in protest at what he perceived as its increasing
social conservatism Social conservatism is a political philosophy and a variety of conservatism which places emphasis on Tradition#In political and religious discourse, traditional social structures over Cultural pluralism, social pluralism. Social conservatives ...
and status as a "single issue party".(9 September 2013)
"Libertarian David Leyonhjlem [sic
/nowiki> supports some Coalition policies but not others"">ic">"Libertarian David Leyonhjlem [sic
/nowiki> supports some Coalition policies but not others"– ''The Australian''. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
Andrew M. Potts (22 March 2011)
"Party Seeks Outdoorsy Gay Vote"
– ''Star Observer''. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
In 2005, after leaving the Shooters Party, Leyonhjelm became involved with the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which then contested the New South Wales elections as the Outdoor Recreation Party. As secretary of the LDP, he helped the party become federally registered and helped with the campaign for the 2007,
2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...
, and 2013 federal elections.About Us: History
– Liberal Democratic Party. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
Drawing 0.10 percent of the first-preference vote, Leyonhjelm unsuccessfully contested the
Division of Bennelong The Division of Bennelong is an Electorates of the Australian House of Representatives, Australian electoral division in the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales. The division was created in 1949 and is named after Benn ...
in 2007 for the LDP, which ran as the Liberty and Democracy Party, after the Australian Electoral Commission initially refused to register it under its original name due to the use of the word "Liberal". For the Outdoor Recreation Party, he unsuccessfully contested the 2010 Penrith state by-election, drawing 1.87 percent of the first-preference vote, and then was listed first on the party's group ticket at the 2011 state election, which drew 0.75 percent as a group.


Parliament

Running for the Australian Senate in
New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
at the 2013 federal election, Leyonhjelm was elected to the fifth of six vacancies. The Liberal Democrats polled 3.91 percent of the first-preference vote based on five states, receiving 523,831 primary votes above the line in NSW. The result for the LDP in New South Wales was partly attributed to the " donkey vote", because the party occupied the first position on a ballot paper with a record number of candidates. Confusion with the Liberal Party of Australia and other similarly-named parties was also thought to have played a part, with a writer in ''
The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...
'' suggesting Leyonhjelm was "probably the only senator elected because people mistook his party for another".


2014

Leyonhjelm assumed his seat on 1 July 2014, and was sworn in on 7 July, making his maiden speech during the same week. In the first sitting week, he successfully moved to have the government's Clean Energy (Income Tax Rates and Other Amendments) Bill considered by itself, instead of being grouped with other legislation. The bill, which subsequently failed to pass, would have repealed personal income tax cuts that were to be introduced as compensation for the carbon tax. In September 2014, he announced that Helen Dale, a writer and lawyer who won the Miles Franklin Award in 1995 (as Helen Demidenko), would be a senior adviser on policy matters. In November 2014, Leyonhjelm introduced as a
private member's bill A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in wh ...
a Freedom to Marry Bill, which would allow same-sex marriage. Leyonhjelm was criticised following the 2014 Sydney hostage crisis when he argued that Australians should be allowed greater access to weapons for self defence. He put the view that the outcome may have been different if at least some citizens were allowed to be armed.


2015

In August 2015 Leyonhjelm negotiated a deal to include a 12-month sunset clause on the temporary ban on importing the Adler lever action shotgun. The Government imposed the ban in July, while it reviewed the technical specifications of weapons in the wake of the Martin Place Siege. The Federal Government has agreed to allow the importation of the shotgun, in exchange for support on migration laws. A week prior to the ban lapsing as a result of the sunset clause, the Government reimposed the ban. Leyonhjelm has been a vocal opponent of laws designed to reduce the consumption of cigarettes, and has accepted $55,000 in donations from tobacco company Philip Morris. Leyonhjelm submitted a private member's bill to the Senate to repeal the ban on territories legalising euthanasia. The bill was voted down in the senate 36-34. Leyonhjelm and Bob Day of the Family First Party announced their intention shortly after the 2013 election to vote as a bloc in the
Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
on economic issues, but to vote separately on social issues. Day has since resigned from the Senate, but Leyonhjelm has stated he intends to form a new voting bloc with his successor from Family First, as well as Cory Bernardi from the Australian Conservatives. Leyonhjelm has since formed a bloc with Bernardi, United Australia Party Senator Brian Burston and independent Senator Fraser Anning, who left One Nation and has since been expelled from Katter's Australian Party. Both Leyonhjelm and Day have long been members of the
free market In economics, a free market is an economic market (economics), system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of ...
think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...
Institute of Public Affairs The Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) is a conservative non-profit free market public policy think tank, Political links and networking The IPA Victoria was founded during World War II by businessmen in response to the feared growing power of ...
(IPA).


2016

During the
2016 Australian federal election The 2016 Australian federal election was a double dissolution election held on Saturday, 2 July 2016, to elect all 226 members of the 45th Parliament of Australia, 45th Parliament of Australia, after an extended eight-week official campaign p ...
campaign, Leyonhjelm attracted criticism after he suggested women's sport was not "interesting enough" to receive government funding, in response to Labor's proposal to increase the amount of women's sport broadcast on Australian television. Labor leader Bill Shorten responded, calling Leyonhjelm a "stone age man". During the same campaign, the satirical television show '' The Chaser's Election Desk'' parked a campervan across the road from Leyonhjelm's house daubed in Wicked Campers slogans that Leyonhjelm had previously defended, with Leyonhjelm's name replacing derogatory references to women in the original slogans. Leyonjhelm reacted by threatening to call the police and told the Chaser team to "fuck off". He subsequently told women's rights activist Melinda Tankard Reist to "STFU" (for "shut the fuck up") when she accused him of hypocrisy. Speaking to
BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
in November 2016, Leyonhjelm questioned the motives and integrity of anti-poverty charity workers, particularly with regard to a
conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple wikt:interest#Noun, interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates t ...
in the continuation of their own employment as opposed to their elimination of poverty and thus their obsolescence: "The people who work for those charities have their careers tied up in the continuation of that charitable work. If they were too successful and poverty was eliminated, they wouldn't have jobs anymore. They have a very long history in Australia of talking up poverty." Leyonhjelm wanted the government-funded age pension payment to be viewed as welfare and not an entitlement for taxpayers once they reach a certain age. He told ABC News: "Taking the pension shouldn't be something you aspire to, it should be something you try to avoid because it signifies you're in a low income group – in other words you're poor or you know, close to poor," He also opposed the censorship of video games and criticised the Australian Classification Board claiming, "How is it that adults are not trusted to make choices about video games, and yet they are allowed to vote?", and asked the government to "leave video gamers alone."
Destructoid ''Destructoid'' is a website that was founded as a video game-focused blog in March 2006 by Yanier Gonzalez, a Cuban-American cartoonist and author. Enthusiast Gaming acquired the website in 2017 and sold it to Gamurs Group in 2022. Histor ...
called him "the hero Australia deserves".


2017

Soon after the January 2017 Melbourne car attack, in which a driver hit and killed six people and injured many others, Leyonhjelm posted to Twitter a link to a headline "BREAKING: It's feared at least one pedestrian has been hit in the Bourke St Mall by a rogue car driving erratically. More Soon.", with the comment "Probably one of those semi-automatic assault cars." Responding to calls for his resignation, Leyonhjelm suggested critics fill out an official complaint, posting a "Hurt Feelings Complaint Form".


2018

In 2018, Leyonhjelm told Australian Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young to "fuck off" and "stop shagging men", during a debate of a bill moved by Katter's Australian Party senator Fraser Anning to allow the importation of
pepper spray Pepper spray, oleoresin capsicum spray, OC spray, capsaicin spray, mace, or capsicum spray is a Tear gas, lachrymator (tear gas) product containing as its active ingredient the chemical compound capsaicin, which irritates the eyes with burning ...
, mace and tasers for women's self-defence. Leyonhjelm claimed that was in response to Hanson-Young saying "women wouldn't need pepper spray if men weren't rapists", and that his comment for her to "fuck off" was prompted by her approaching him after the debate and calling him a "creep". He later made claims of Hanson-Young's sexual promiscuity on national television, claiming he was responding appropriately to a statement which he said categorised all men as rapists. Leyonhjelm defended himself by claiming that he was calling out sexism and misandry. When challenged, Leyonhjelm pointed to an interview in which he claimed Hanson-Young accused all men of being rapists, although this was rejected by the senator. On 14 August 2018, the Greens moved a motion in the Senate to censure Leyonhjelm for his remarks against Hanson-Young, which was passed by 30 votes to 28.


2019

On 7 January 2019, Leyonhjelm announced that he intended to quit federal politics to contest the 2019 New South Wales state election on 23 March 2019. He resigned from the Australian Senate on 1 March 2019. He was the second Senator since the 2016 election to resign from Federal Parliament to contest a state election, following Nick Xenophon's unsuccessful run at the 2018 South Australian state election. Leyonhjelm's bid to win a place in the NSW Legislative Council was unsuccessful. In November, Senator Hanson-Young was awarded $120,000 in damages after winning a defamation case in the Federal Court against Leyonhjelm over interviews he gave following his "stop shagging men" comment in Parliament. The judge ruled that Leyonhjelm had acted with malice and intended to publicly shame Hanson-Young.


2020

Leyonhjelm was due to pay Senator Hanson-Young's legal costs and the associated settlement by the end of 2019 but chose not to do so as he was appealing against the defamation decision, partly on the ground of the implied constitutional freedom of political communication. The appeal was dismissed in March 2021. In July 2020, Leyonhjelm expressed dismay at the Australian public's response to increased use of governmental power during the Covid-19 pandemic, describing Australians as " sheeple".


Political views

Leyonhjelm has been described as a " libertarian purist" who wants government "wound back to a minimal role in society". In interviews, he has stated that he was initially drawn towards socialism, but turned away from it after travelling to socialist countries in Africa and Eastern Europe and was later influenced by the writings of economist
Milton Friedman Milton Friedman (; July 31, 1912 – November 16, 2006) was an American economist and statistician who received the 1976 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his research on consumption analysis, monetary history and theory and ...
.Dean Bertram (21 September 2013)
"In praise of Australia's Liberal Democrats"
– ''
The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British political and cultural news magazine. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving magazine in the world. ''The Spectator'' is politically conservative, and its principal subject a ...
''. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
His election has been associated with a rise in the popularity of libertarian and classical liberal ideas in Australia, with one commentator suggesting his election might "spark a libertarian renaissance n Australia. In the 44th parliament, along with seventeen other crossbenchers (including 10 Greens, independents and representatives from four other parties), the Liberal Democrats shared the balance of power in the Senate. He supported the repeal of the Minerals Resource Rent Tax and carbon tax, but opposed the Abbott government's proposed paid parental leave and "direct action" on climate change schemes as "bad in principle" and "a waste of taxpayers' money", respectively."Charge asylum seekers $50,000 to come here, says incoming senator"
– ''The Sydney Morning Herald''. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
The LDP's position on climate change is that the scientific evidence is not yet "compelling" and that "changes in human activity could realistically reverse those consequences", but the party "would favour market-based options" if the science is confirmed by further study. Notably, Leyonhjelm has proposed charging a fee for
permanent residency Permanent residency is a person's legal resident status in a country or territory of which such person is not a citizen but where they have the right to reside on a permanent basis. This is usually for a permanent period; a person with such l ...
in Australia as a way of discouraging people smuggling. He also supports same-sex marriage, the decriminalisation of marijuana and
assisted suicide Assisted suicide, sometimes restricted to the context of physician-assisted suicide (PAS), is the process by which a person, with the help of others, takes actions to end their life. Once it is determined that the person's situation qualifie ...
. In his "Agribuzz" column, he generally advocates deregulating the Australian agriculture industry, including removing barriers to
free trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold Economic liberalism, economically liberal positions, while economic nationalist politica ...
,
genetically modified organism A genetically modified organism (GMO) is any organism whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques. The exact definition of a genetically modified organism and what constitutes genetic engineering varies, with ...
s and foreign ownership of Australian land. Leyonhjelm supports the removal of the words "offend" and "insult" from Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975, arguing that "offence is always taken, not given". Upon being described as an " angry white male" for seeking to amend Section 18C, Leyonhjelm lodged a complaint with the Human Rights Commission, arguing that this is a breach of 18C.


Books

* ''Freedom's Salesman: Collected Articles and Speeches by Australia's Senator for Liberty'', Melbourne: Wilkinson Publishing, 2017. * ''Gun Control: What Australia did, how other countries do it & is any of it sensible?'', Brisbane: Connor Court Publishing, 2020.


Essays

* "Factory Farming Is Essential to Feed the World", in: ''Factory Farming'', Debra A. Miller, ed., Detroit: Greenhaven Press, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning, 2013.


See also

* Members of the Australian Senate, 2014–2016 * Members of the Australian Senate, 2016–2019


References


External links


Official Website

Summary of parliamentary voting on TheyVoteForYou.org.au
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leyonhjelm, David 1952 births Australian people of Swedish descent Australian libertarians Australian veterinarians Australian drug policy reform activists Australian LGBTQ rights activists Living people Liberal Democratic Party members of the Parliament of Australia Macquarie University alumni Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party politicians University of Melbourne alumni Members of the Australian Senate Members of the Australian Senate for New South Wales 21st-century Australian politicians