MELBOURNE, Australia — The Australian Sex Party has scored a major victory in the recent Victorian state elections, gaining two Parliament upper house seats.
With more than 90 percent of votes counted, the party is being declared a winner for the seats and has recorded its best ever result in an election campaign.
Sex Party President and candidate, Fiona Patten, said that the party is now recognized as the major minor party in Australian politics.
“We are not just a single issue party either and have policies across a wide spectrum of social and economic life including drug law reform, voluntary euthanasia, taxing religions, 24 hour public transport and better tax breaks for small businesses,” Patten said.
All political parties draw funding from their supporters. The Sex Party noted that it does not have access to the millions of dollars that the two major parties have from unions and big business, nor the vast reserves of religious parties like Family First have or billionaire mining magnate Clive Palmers’ party. However it does have support from the Australian adult industry and this time, the Eros Association, the party’s major sponsor, coordinated a war chest from amongst its member’s fees that included some substantial amounts.
The most significant investment came from the HGC/Sexpo/Club X group that provided a total of $121,000. CEO, Ken Hill said that the adult industry provided products to the community that were now well recognized by doctors, therapists and other professionals. “We are a professional industry and as such we thought that it was time we showed a professional approach to politics and to invest in our company’s future, through a strategic political donation,” Hill said.
He added, “When you see the insidious hand of religion and moral’s campaigners in politics around the world and the negative effects that it has on our industry, its time to fight back, just as surely as you would fight back against someone who set fire to your warehouse.”
Patten noted that without the HGC/Sexpo/Club X/Tickle Your Fancy funding, the party would never have been able to raise its profile the way it did. “Investing in the Sex Party and a political solution to industry problems requires a ‘big picture’ approach to business,” Patten said. “It requires courage and a deeper understanding of how business fits into society, to put your money where your mouth is and fund the Sex Party the way they did.”
Other significant amounts included $20,000 from alternative products retailer, Off Ya Tree, and $10,000 from Trio Trading. Night club and entertainment company Entertainment Management Services provided $15,000, while $10,000 came from adult products distributors Claredale and Windsor Wholesale. U.S.-based company, System Jo sent $5,000.
