DEAKIN WEST, Australia — The Australian Sex Party, a political party supported by the Australian adult industry trade group Eros Association, has been sanctioned by the Australian Electoral Commission, which maintains the official register of political parties that can be acknowledged on ballots.

"We think that this is a world first and certainly the first time in Australia an industry association has established a political party," Sex Party organizer Fiona Patten told XBIZ. "The adult industry has been condemned widely by a broad range of politicians. We are regularly blamed for violence, disease, sexism and immorality and marriage breakdown. It will be interesting to see how these same politicians react when we are standing next to them in parliament."

The Australian Electoral Commission has currently registered more than 20 official political parties, including the Fishing Party, the Nuclear Disarmament Party and the Climate Change Coalition as well as the more traditional Labor, Liberal and Green parties.

The Sex Party filed papers for registration in June, and during a legally mandated public comment period the Electoral Commission received only four complaints. The Commission's report said the only objection that merited consideration was that the name "Sex Party" was "obscene" and that was denied.