|
Sex Party to Set Up In WA |
 |
 |
 |
|
Written by Australian Sex Party
|
|
Thursday, 21 May 2009 08:09 |
Australia’s newest political party, the Sex Party, will consider setting up a West Australian branch after this week’s Sexpo. Party convenor, Fiona Patten, said that she would gauge support from among those signing up to join the federal Party at Sexpo but already she had been approached by a number of disaffected Liberal and Labor members to launch in the west.
Ms Patten said that there were a number of important personal freedom and social justice issues that both the major parties had ignored and which were adding to the pressure on her to set up against them. “Legalising non violent erotic DVDs and prostitution may not seem like a reason to set up a new party in W.A. but when you throw in gay marriage, legalised abortion and a few checks and balances on the power of the churches, then you are starting to develop a strong policy base which affects the voting tendencies of a lot of people”, she said. “Public opinion polls have consistently shown that people in the west have the most relaxed attitudes to issues like censorship* but politicians from Liberal and Labor continue to ignore these figures and instead have installed the moral values of their mates in the churches”.
The Sex Party has enrolled nearly 2,000 members since last November and is on target to get 10,000 members by the end of the year. The party is targeting younger voters, small business and those who are disillusioned with the political processes. Ms Patten said that the party was already very active on social networking sites and that she had personally met with US President Obama’s technical advisor when he was in Australia a few months ago. “We are a social party at heart and are kicking off a series of Sex Party ‘sex parties’ where people meet to discuss out policies around the barbie or the dinner table”, she said. “Our name might turn a few heads but when people see our policies they realise that sex and gender issues affect almost all of the major portfolios in government.”
She said that the party was keen to get a Royal Commission underway into child sex abuse in religious institutions and that W.A. would be a focus for this as the birthplace of the Christian Brothers in Australia. “We would like to see all churches and church-based businesses in W.A. paying tax like any other profit-making entity”, she said. “Just because you are in the business of ‘fostering religion’ should not make you exempt from paying tax”.
Legalised abortion and proper sex education in W.A. schools were also big issues. “Religious groups in W.A. have more influence on what is taught as sex education in schools than do secular educators and modern sex therapists”, she said. “We need a standardised curriculum for religious and secular schools”, she said.
RELATED STORY: Sex party seeks WA recruits >>
Fiona Patten is available at Sexpo for interview: 0413 734 613
The Australian Sex Party, PO Box 181, Deakin West, ACT, 2600. Ph 02 62852477 www.sexparty.org.au
|
