MELBOURNE - The Eros Foundation, Australia's adult industry trade association, has formed a political party in response to the rise of religious conservatism in the Australian government.
The Australian Sex Party launched during this week's Sexpo trade show in Melbourne. The party hopes to win at least one national Senate seat and plans to target upper House seats in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and other states.
"There is a new conservatism creeping up in Australia - we're becoming a nanny state where politicians can't talk about sex without giggling or saying something negative," said Eros Foundation CEO Fiona Patten. "I think there are enough free-minded thinking individuals for us to win seats."
According to Patten, Australia's censorship policies are more restrictive now than they were 20 years ago. A national Internet filtering proposal designed to crack down on access to adult websites could end the Aussie sex industry within five years, she said.
Touting the slogan "We're Serious About Sex," the party outlined its agenda in a statement published on its official website:
- To bring about the establishment of a truly national classification scheme which includes a uniform non-violent erotica rating for explicit adult material for all jurisdictions and through all media including the Internet and computer games.
- To overturn mandatory ISP filtering of the Internet and return Internet censorship to parents and individuals.
- To bring about the development of a national sex education curriculum for secondary schools as a first step in preventing the sexualization of children.
- To enact national anti-discrimination laws which make it illegal to unfairly discriminate against people or companies on the basis of job, occupation, profession or calling.
- To hold a referendum to create mandatory equal numbers of women in the Senate and State Upper Houses.
- To enact national pregnancy termination laws along the same lines as divorce law — which allow for legal, no-fault and guilt-free processes for women seeking termination.
- The listing of Viagra, Cialis and other drugs used to treat sexual dysfunction, on the Pharmaceutical Benefits
- To create total equal rights in all areas of the law for gay, lesbian and transsexual couples.
- Ensure that the introduction of paid maternity leave is fair and equitable for small businesses.
- Abolish sex slavery and sexual servitude by introducing non morality-based immigration policies that allow bona-fide sex workers to work legally in Australia.
- Overturn racist laws that ban Aboriginal people from possessing erotic and sexual media in the Northern Territory.
- Ensure the sexual rights and freedoms of the disabled and elderly in institutions.
- Convene a Royal Commission into child sex abuse in the nation’s religious institutions.
- Develop global approaches to tackling child pornography which focus on production of the material rather than its distribution.
- Overturn restrictions on aid to overseas family planning organizations that reference abortion.
For more information and a voter registration form, visit www.sexparty.org.au/index.html.
Pictured: Fiona Patten
