PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release
Libertarianz Party

Libz Announce Deregistration

Libertarianz leader Richard McGrath today [3 Feb] confirmed that the Electoral Commission had last week deregistered the party at its own request.

"Senior party members had been discussing for several months how we might get more bang for our buck, and it was decided to continue as a ginger group and/or think tank rather than as a registered political party."

"As Peter Dunne found out last year, keeping the minimum required number of party members is quite a job in itself, and takes manpower and resources away from pursuing policy goals," he added.

"The Libertarianz Party is realistic, and accepts the enormous difficulty faced by a party operating on limited finances and without a high profile figurehead to win an electorate seat or 5% of the party vote. The bar is set almost impossibly high for fringe parties such as ours, so we have to look at other ways to influence the political process."

"It's a real pity in some ways that we are ceasing our registration, as I continue to receive emails from people wanting to join the party, and we still have a war chest of several thousand dollars."

Mr McGrath said Libertarianz members would continue to be involved in political debate, citing the NotPC blog hosted by former leader Peter Cresswell, and the submission from the party to the Constitutional Advisory Panel as recent examples of party activism.

"We will continue to be available to the media for comment, and will endorse candidates at elections who we believe adequately champion the libertarian ideals of limited government, personal freedom and individual responsibility."

Mr McGrath added that Jamie Whyte's rise to the ACT leadership was an exciting move, and he was hopeful Mr Whyte would be able to more clearly articulate what he called the "radical capitalism" of ACT's early days. "It was their deviation from core principles that was the major catalyst for the formation of the Libertarianz Party."

"Some Libertarianz members will decide to stand for, or become activists for, other parties. That is fine by me; all I ask is that they remain true to the tenets of classical liberalism. There will undoubtedly be individuals and parties better poised than ours to market libertarian ideas in Parliament."

"At this point I would like to sincerely thank those who helped set up the Libertarianz Party, who stood as candidates, who assisted with election campaigns and all those who voted for us. Over the years it has become obvious that registered party status was not going to be a successful approach for the people involved in libertarian politics in this country. We re now moving on from that. Watch this space!"

ENDS

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