I have just been made aware of a new political party here in Australia, The Australian Sex Party. They are running candidates in the two bi-elections tomorrow and I really think all the geeks, gamers and liberally minded folks out there need to take a look before casting your vote tomorrow. You can find out about the party in detail by going to www.sexparty.org.au and having a good read. They are not what you think at first glance. Here is their mission statement and policy outlines from their site (I have highlighted a couple of their policies that really hit it out of the park for me):

The Mission Statement

The Australian Sex Party is a political response to the sexual needs of Australia in the 21st century. It is an attempt to restore the balance between sexual privacy and sexual publicity that has been severely distorted by morals campaigners and prudish politicians.

Tolerance of sexual free speech and sexual expression is one of the main hallmarks of free and democratic nations. Intolerance of these qualities is one of the hallmarks of autocracies, dictatorships and theocracies.

The vast majority of Australians are relaxed and tolerant of a broad spectrum of sexual expression but state and federal governments have increasingly ignored this demographic and pursued policies and legislation that have restricted sexual free speech and expression – often under threat of large fines and even jail sentences.

The Sex Party is fed up with wowserism in Australian parliaments. It is frustrated by the lip service paid to gender equality and sexual identity by the major parties when real and meaningful law reform stalls on factionalism and behind the scenes handshakes with religious leaders.

The Party has registered with the Australian Electoral Commission and has signaled its intention to field candidates at all levels of government over the coming years.

The Policies

Censorship

• Bring about the establishment of a truly national classification scheme which includes a uniform non-violent erotica rating for explicit adult material for all jurisdictions and through all media including the Internet and computer games.
• Introduce an R and X rating for computer games
• To overturn mandatory ISP filtering of the Internet and return Internet censorship to parents and individuals.

Education

• To bring about the development of a national sex education curriculum as a first step in preventing the sexualisation of children.
• Development of a national internet education scheme for parents.

Equality

• To enact national anti discrimination laws which make it illegal to unfairly discriminate against people or companies on the basis of job, occupation, profession or calling.
• To hold a referendum to create mandatory equal numbers of women in the Senate and State Upper Houses.
• To create total equal rights in all areas of the law for gay, lesbian and transsexuals.
• Overturn racist laws that ban Aboriginal people from possessing erotic and sexual media in the Northern Territory.
• Ensure the sexual rights and freedoms of the disabled and elderly.

Health

• To enact national pregnancy termination laws along the same lines as divorce law — which allow for legal, no-fault and guilt-free processes for women seeking termination.
• The listing of Viagra, Cialis and other drugs used to treat sexual dysfunction, on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
• Overturn restrictions on aid to overseas family planning organisations that reference abortion.

Protection of Children

• Convene a Royal Commission into child sex abuse in the nation’s religious institutions.
• Develop global approaches to tackling child pornography which focus on detection and apprehension of the producers of the material.

Workplace Relations

• Ensure that the introduction of paid maternity leave is fair and equitable for small businesses.
• Abolish sex slavery and sexual servitude by introducing non morality-based immigration policies that allow bona-fide sex workers to work legally in Australia.

Other

• Ending the tax exempt status for religions.

I agree with all of their policies, the highlighted ones are just ones that really jumped out at me. I don’t know about you, but these are all good solid policies that I can get behind. As the owner and head geek here at Geek Actually, I support this party and wish them luck tomorrow at the bi-elections. We will discuss this in more detail on tomorrow’s Geek Actually Podcast, join us at 12pm (AEDST UTC+11) geekactually.com/live