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'Vote' not a four letter word

One of the most eye-catching parties on this year's ballot, the Australian Sex Party, are campaigning to tackle Internet censorship and end what they say is the major parties' tendency to get into bed with established religion.

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2 min read

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Updated

By Shalailah Medhora

Source: SBS


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One of the most eye-catching parties on this year's ballot, the Australian Sex Party, are campaigning to tackle Internet censorship and end what they say is the major parties' tendency to get into bed with established religion.

The party registered with the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) less than a year ago.

From the start, they were met with opposition.

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"We registered the party with the Australian Electoral Commission in August last year after a five month battle with religious campaigners who tried to suggest that the name 'Sex' in a political party name was obscene," co-founder Robbie Swan told SBS.

"The AEC traced back two centuries of common law to come to the conclusion that it was not," he says.

But sex isn't the top agenda item for the party.

Rather, Mr Swan says tackling Internet censorship and the Labor government's proposed web filter is their top priority.

"We started the Sex Party because we could see that the big personal freedom issues, censorship, abortion, euthanasia, drugs etcetera were being overlooked by the major parties as they became more and more enmeshed with religious groups," the former lobbyist says.

Mr Swan says the warm reception the party has received from some sectors of society is evidence that the major parties have been caught with their pants down on these issues.

"We are getting a lot of support especially from young people. A Google search on the word 'sex' shows us at number three out of over 700 million sites and you don't get that without a lot of interest in what you are doing," he says.

Mr Swan and his partner Fiona Patten, a candidate for the party, met in the early 1990s while advocating for the adult industry.

They decided a national approach to fighting censorship was needed, rather than the state-based legislation that exists currently.

From that, the Australian Sex Party was born.

Mr Swan admits that the party's chances of winning a seat are slim, but insists that is because of the major parties' reluctance to offer them preferences, and not due to voters' disinterest in its platform.


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