The High Court has upheld federal laws which tighten rules around the use of similar political party names.
The Liberal Democrats political party went to the court seeking to challenge the constitutional validity of laws which came into force in September 2021.
The laws, which had the support of the Morrison government and Labor, tighten rules around the registration of party names which replicate a word in the name of an existing registered party.
The High Court on Wednesday found the laws were valid.
The LDP has applied to the Australian Electoral Commission for a proposed change of name to the "Liberty & Democracy Party", which would use the abbreviation "Liberty Democrats".
It is hoped the name can be registered before the calling of the federal election, due in May.
The Liberal Party has held concerns for many years that the Liberal Democrats benefit from voters casting a ballot for the minor party's candidates by mistake.
Many believe the Liberal Democrats' David Leyonhjelm was elected on the basis of the "donkey vote" and confusion over his party's title when his name appeared in the first position on a record-size NSW Senate ballot paper in 2013.
Mr Leyonhjelm himself acknowledged, in evidence presented to the court, that "you can't deny that some people would have ... mistaken us for the Liberals".
From 2010 to 2019, the Liberal Democratic Party polled better in every general election where it drew an "above-the-line" position on the Senate ballot paper to the left of the Liberal Party than in any general election where it drew a position to the right of the Liberal Party.
The same pattern occurred with the now-deregistered Democratic Labour Party and the ALP.
But the Liberal Democrats argued the laws breached the implied freedom of political communication.
Full reasons for the decision will be published in coming months.
