Reason Party (Australia)

Reason Party
Leader	Fiona Patten
Founded	2008
Ideology	Sex-positive, Social progressivism
Website
sexparty.org.au
Politics of Australia Political parties Elections

The Australian Sex Party is a political party in Australia formed in 2008. Fiona Patten is the leader of the party and will stand for the Senate at the next federal election. The party was officially launched on the 20th November 2008 at Melbourne Sexpo and achieved registration as a political party from the Australian Electoral Commission in August 2009. The party has nearly 2,000 members.

The party has substantial links with the Eros Association - Australia's national adult retail and entertainment association. Fiona Patten is the CEO of the Eros Association and the party's Registered Officer is Robert Swan, who is also the Media Director of the Eros Association.

The party contested elections for the first time at the Higgins and Bradfield by-elections in November 2009, gaining over three percent of the primary vote in both seats, coming fourth of ten and third of twenty-two candidates respectively.

Policies

Party leader Fiona Patten

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 (see Internet censorship in Australia) 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 men and women in the Senate and State Upper Houses.
• To create total equal rights in all areas of the law for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
• 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.

External links

• The Australian Sex Party