Liberal Democratic Party candidate for Bass Stephen Humble wants to fight for greater personal freedoms

"It's really quite strange, In Australia there didn't seem to be any party that had that approach to things,"

"Almost every other country in the world does not mandate people to wear a bike helmet," Mr Humble said.

It represents a core pillar of the LDP's political vision of fighting for personal freedoms, small government, low taxes, and individual choice, Mr Humble who is running for the Northern Tasmanian seat of Bass despite residing in South Australia, said.

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Growing up in the small town of Mount Barker on Western Australia's south coast, Mr Humble studied electrical engineering, before moving on to work for Telstra's now-defunct broadcast division, and then Lockheed Martin.

Two decades in engineering led the 51 year old to an interest in renewable energy, something that he said he will fight for developing if elected.

"I definitely like to see the government work well with private industry so that when they have to get approval for something it's an efficient process ... and we get our environmental assessments done," he said.

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A point of difference between the major parties and the LDP, Mr Humble said, is that he doesn't want to just subsidise renewables, but invest in innovative technology and small business at a local level.

Mr Humble also said that Australia's degraded soil quality had left the agricultural sector at risk and that further investment in GMO technology was needed to improve drought and salt-resistant crops.

He also advocated for a reduction in regulations around growing hemp - a resource he said could be a valuable addition to the region's agricultural output.

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On a local legislative level, the long-time LDP member highlighted the need for drug-reform laws, and a different approach to mask mandates and pandemic management that put personal choice above rules he said had damaged people's livelihoods.

"I've got a belief that people will respect laws more if the laws make sense. And if the laws don't make sense, then people don't tend to follow them", he said.

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