Well, actually being a libertarian is a good start. I think a lot of the reason is because most people who profess to be libertarian (at least among those in public life) espouse a sort of selective libertarianism that ignores evidence and follows cynical neoliberal and neoconservative political trends. Philosophy is only quoted if it agrees with existing ideologically approved values. The poor and indigent are savaged while wealthy criminals are blindly feted as 'heroic' and victimised. It's a kind of Randian fucked up bastardised misrepresentation of liberalism that most people, even relatively apolitical regular joes, can see just ain't right. They might not be able to argue against you but they can vote and they will follow their gut - and what Australian politicians and the media insiders have failed to recognise (to their own detriment) is that regular voters are a lot more discerning than they give them credit for.

The other main reason is that most Australians are small-C conservative in nature, whether they vote left or right. Small parties like the Greens are oblivious to their lack of appeal to the majority because they are wrapped up in their self righteousness and absolutist strategy. If Labor enacts more socially liberal policies in 5 years than the Libs did in 11 years, why don't we credit them with being the most libertarian government in Australia's history? It may not be their raison d'être, but they are the only ones who have I'm practise done a thing about it. Was WorkChoices a 'libertarian' policy? Some people would say yes, and that's the impression the populace has - but really, creating a system where individuals have less bargaining power really makes them less free; their lives become more restricted and they have less choice. Now we could argue about that particular idea forever, but my point is that the discussion never gets to the public as from the average person's view the word 'liberalise' and 'liberate' have become code for 'persecute'.

Libertarianism could be a whole range of different philosophies but a particularly narrow strain is dominant especially when it comes to people in positions of power. So I think the first thing that needs to happen is in the think tanks and communities of political tragics like ours - we need to become more open to different ways of actually looking at liberalism. It's the product that is defective not the marketing.