Queensland Politicians Uninterested in the Sex Lives of Voters

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Published on Thursday, 12 June 2014 22:36

Despite sending invitations to all 89 Queensland MPs to attend this weekend’s first Gold Coast Sexpo, not one politician has accepted. Eros Association CEO, Fiona Patten, said that the political ‘boycott’ of Sexpo would be strongly offset by the tens of thousands of ordinary Queenslanders who would attend the show over the next few days.

“There are well over 100 adult shops in Queensland making it the most well represented state in Australia”, she said. “Queenslanders spend a whopping $30 million a year on sex toys and vibrators from adult shops with another $10 million a year sold online. This Sexpo will probably be the largest consumer show ever to be held on the Gold Coast.”

Ms Patten said that the dichotomy of interest in sexual matters between politicians and the public was a worrying sign that the former were out of touch with the day-to-day lives of Queensland adults. “The Gold Coast council went so far as to refuse to list Sexpo on the local events page of their website”, she said. “What other show that attracts 30,000 people would be prohibited from a taxpayer-funded website and discriminated against in this way? If it was a wine Expo, a Casino promotion, a weapons show or other age-restricted trade show, politicians would be sure to attend.”

She said she was happy to provide MPs with a private and inside commentary on many of the stalls and what part of the community they represented as well as how many voters they catered to in the electorate. The majority of visitors would be couples aged 20 – 40 years, although organizers were expecting a large number of retired baby boomers to attend.

Sexpo has evolved to encompass a wide range of adult products and pastimes and not just those of a sexual nature. This reflects the trend of adult stores in Queensland to provide a wider range of adult products these days - even tobacco, e cigarettes and vaporizers. The Queensland government is moving towards banning e cigarettes, which contain no nicotine and no tobacco, without restricting real cigarettes that are the proven killers. Last month a prominent group of 53 scientists and researchers, including five Australian scientists, declared that e cigarettes are valuable tools in helping people give up cigarettes.

Ms Patten said that age restricted venues like Sexpo and adult shops were the ideal outlets for adult products such as tobacco and that supermarkets were among the worst venues for governments to allow tobacco to be sold from.

She also said she was hoping that she might get a few last minute takers for her tour. “Queensland is the only state in the western world to ban adult magazines that have even been classified by the federal government, so its not like Queensland MPs don’t need some education about sexual products and community attitudes”.