The old political war-horse Fred Daly wrote that in 1944 there was a large reception to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary in politics of Billy Hughes, member for Bradfield, past Prime Minister and prolific political turn-coat. John Curtin, presiding, said “Billy.....why is it that you have been in almost every party in Australia except the Country Party ? “    Hughes replied, “Good God, man, you have to draw the line somewhere.”

Although far less colourful a character the newest member for Bradfield, Paul Fletcher, drew a new line when he chose to totally ignore the existence of the newly created Australian Sex Party (ASP).  In his online survey voters are asked specifically what party they support. It then lists them, strategically placing Christian Democrats and One Nation prominently at the top of the list next to the coalition parties. The Sex Party doesn’t even get a look in. There isn’t even a section for “Other Parties”.

Even allowing for WASP sensitivities it is the political equivalent of a cold shower. Maybe they had already decided that only Labor voters have sex.
In a field of 22 candidates Marianne Leishman of the Sex Party polled third. In a cynical abuse of the electoral system, Fred Nile’s Christian Democrats ran a total of nine candidates. Two of them were at the top of the ballot sheet. Discounting the donkey vote Leishman beat all the nine Christian Democrats combined.

The results of the by-election are telling. The ASP achieved a primary vote of 3.3 % in one of the most conservative blue-ribbon seats in the country. Consider however some of the booth returns. In one large booth in Lindfield, the heartland of the electorate and literally a stone throw from the local Liberal offices, the Sex Party received 4.92% of the vote.

But it was in the north and southern parts of the electorate that whole swathes of booths returned well for the ASP.  The largest booth in Chatswood recorded a 5.15% vote. Booths in the north recorded votes around and in excess of 4.5%.
Peter Hartcher ( “Even sex sells when Labor plays cheap and nasty” SMH December 7, 2009) says that there were three winners in Saturdays by-election, “..... the Liberals and the Greens can plausibly claim success. And so can the Australian Sex Party.”

Whether or not the vote for the Sex Party holds up when Labor does run a candidate is yet to be tested.
New South Wales is certainly fertile territory for the Sex Party. Many of the issues on the party’s agenda are state based and include sex education in schools, legalisation of non-violent erotica and abortion.

The 2011 NSW elections will be interesting. It will be a choice between a government seriously on the nose, led by the avowed Catholic Kristina Keneally, versus a barely competent Opposition led by the particularly un-sexy Barry O’Farrell.

Given the result in Bradfield it is fair to assume that in such a state election the Sex Party could pick up an even higher percentage of libertarian and disaffected voters.  This could have real implications in seats like Menai (ALP 2.7% ) and Camden (3.9%). A concerted campaign within the means of the Sex Party could be waged in the gaggle of Central Coast seats marginally held by Labor including Gosford (4.9%), The Entrance (4.9%) and Wyong (6.9%).

Then there are the Bolshie seats like Balmain and Marrickville that are threatening to swing from Labor to the Greens.
The Liberals and Religious Right can ignore the political landscape as much as they want. At the end of the day politics is a lot like sex. Often it all comes down to preferences.

by Mark Anthony