The Tasmanian division of the Liberal Party with other party divisions has objected to the registration of the New Liberals party name with the Australian Electoral Commission.
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The objectors in a 54-page submission to the AEC have labelled the registration from the new political party as a "cynical attempt to 'piggyback' on the name Liberal Party".
It said the name would likely be confused with the Liberal Party of Australia or might lead a reasonable person to think there was a connection or relationship with the two parties.
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"The deployment of the word 'new' in the New Liberals strongly suggests that it is derivative of the Liberals: that is, it suggests that it is either a rebranding of the Liberal Party ... or is a division of it," the submission read.
The submission contained a survey of more than 2000 electors, two-thirds of whom considered the New Liberals were connected to an existing party in some way.
The New Liberals was established in 2019 by Sydney lawyer Victor Kline who is also the party's leader.
The party claims to be economically responsible though socially progressive.
The party has named Steven Hopley as its lead Tasmanian candidate in the next federal election.
In response to the objection to the AEC, Mr Kline said it had no foundation in law.
He cited a Federal Court matter which found the Liberal Party could not claim a generic word such as 'liberal'.
"The law aside, even as a matter of simple logic, our party name could not possibly cause confusion amongst voters," Mr Kline said.
"Do people set off for York and go to New York by mistake?
"We adopted the word 'new' at the beginning of our name to make it clear that we were different."
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