NSW electoral laws make it very tough for new, small political parties to get on the official register in NSW. The registration laws are the toughest and most restrictive in Australia. It does make you wonder if the only aim of these laws is to keep fly-by-night, nonsense parties from clogging up NSW ballot papers or if they also work to keep new, small but legitimate parties getting their names on the ballot paper.

To apply for registration in NSW a political party must submit its application no less than 15 months out from the calling of an election, have 750 members who are also currently on the electoral roll in NSW plus pay an application fee of $2,000. Compare that to Federal, Victorian and Queensland laws where a party needs 500 members to qualify for registration, the registration fees are substantially less, as are the time periods to apply for and attain official registration.

The key electoral advantage of registration is getting your party name on ballot papers alongside the names of your candidates. So for voters it doesn't matter if you get in the polling booth and you can't recall a candidate's name, because you'll see the party name alongside the candidate's name on the ballot paper; easy peasy.

The Australian Sex Party did approach the NSW Electoral Commission in November 2009 only to be informed that we were too late to register for the 2011 NSW Election. No reflection on the Commission or their staff. These tough NSW laws were passed by those parties that already had a voice in the NSW Parliament, Labor, Libs, Nats, The Greens and more. Can't help but wonder if they were thinking about not wanting any more competition from new political parties on a level playing field.

The Sex Party presses on and will be backing Party member Andrew Patterson in the seat of Sydney.

"On polling day you'll need to look for my name on the ballot paper for the electorate of Sydney. The Sex Party is not officially registered in NSW so the Party name will not appear on the ballot paper. Sounds silly doesn't it? While we are a registered federal political party we are yet to go through the long and complicated process to register in NSW. So if you want to vote for me and for the Sex Party for the seat of Sydney just look for my name on the ballot paper. Thanks" - Andrew Patterson