Australian Sex Party to run independents in Queensland election

February 27, 2009

The Australian Sex Party will run candidates in three electorates in the upcoming Queensland state election. However, since the party does not have a sufficient membership base, the candidates will run as independents.

"Queensland's censorship laws are far stricter than any other state in Australia and the same as laws on erotica in totalitarian states like China and Iran," says party convenor Fiona Patten.

The party will run of a number of platforms including same sex marriage and age of consent. In Queensland the age of consent for homosexuals is 18 while it is 16 for heterosexuals. Every other state in Australia has an age of consent of 16 regardless of sexual orientation.

The party has been met with opposition from the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL). The ACL has challenged the major parties to place Sex Party candidates last on their how-to-vote cards. "The Australian Sex Party exists to represent the interests of businesses who make money from the exploitation and degradation of women," Jim Wallace, ACL managing director, said.

"If Labor, the LNP and the Greens believe women should be respected and are concerned about the enormous damage caused by pornography and prostitution then they should be demonstrating this by having nothing to do with the Sex Party or its affiliated candidates," said Wallace. The Queensland Greens sole Member of Parliament Ronan Lee has indicated that the Greens will wait until nominations close until they decide on preferences.