VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA—The Australian Sex Party has just been officially registered by the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC). Party President, Fiona Patten (pictured), said that the party would now field candidates for both upper and lower house seats in the Victorian state election on Nov. 27.
“We are one of only 11 parties registered at state level, and by far the newest,” said Patten. “The registration process is rigorous and demanding, and our registration was only achieved through the committed efforts and generous support of our volunteers and supporters. This achievement by a party of our relative youth and size should send a clear message to the major parties that we are capable of making a serious mark on the Victorian political landscape”.
The VEC received one objection to the party’s registration on the grounds that the name was obscene. It was only the second objection to the registration of a party that had ever been received, and was dismissed. Patten said that the party’s name continues to obsess many people who equate ‘sex’ with a particular ‘act’.
“Sex means many things in a modern western democracy like Australia,” she said. “It encompasses and depicts many aspects of our everyday lives, including pleasure, gender, culture, finance, environment and law. The Liberal Party is not liberal anymore, the Labor party does not solely represent ‘labour,’ Family First does not represent all families and the Greens are morphing into shades of pink and purple, so why would anyone think that the Sex Party simply stood for more sex?”
Patten added that the state election offered Victorian voters some stark contrasts in policy on personal freedoms.
“If the DLP gains balance of power in the Upper House, the current abortion laws would come under direct and strong attack,” she said. “The unconscionable abortion trial concluded today in Cairns gives us a horrifying glimpse into what could be the future for Victoria, as imagined by the DLP. Depending on the outcome of the upcoming state election, Victoria could be sending women to jail for exercising their reproductive rights as early as next year.”
The Sex Party, argued Patten, was the radical choice for a sensible Victoria and would present a policy suite unlike anything seen before at a state election.
In support of that claim, Patten said that Premier John Brumby's opposition to Injecting Rooms—a place where addicts may inject drugs under supervision—was out of step with NSW Labor, while his censorship laws on R-rated computer games /X-rated films and his 2 a.m. lock-out were all “wowserish” policies from another era. The Liberals “tough on drugs” policies and bans on the sale of bongs alienated Victorian youth and made education on drug use even more difficult to achieve. She also said that some Greens candidates in Victoria were also advocating feminist fundamentalist theory as a basis for policy-making around the state’s sex industry.
The Australian Sex Party, according to Patten, is the only choice for those people who have a vision for Victoria as being the most progressive state in Australia.
For more information, visit the Australian Sex Party website, or contact Fiona Patten at 0413-734-613 or Media spokesperson Robbie Swan at 0413-871-604.
