FIONA PATTEN
FRED NILE
THE WILD SIDE OF ELECTION 2010 JULIA GILLARD AND TONY ABBOTT ARE DOING THEIR BEST TO PUT YOU ASLEEP THIS ELECTION CAMPAIGN, BUT THAT DOESN’T MEAN THERE’S NO FUN TO BE HAD. SCOTT FITZSIMONS LOOKS AT THOSE HAVING A GRAND OLD TIME ON THE TRAIL AND THOSE WHO ARE HARBOURING INSANITY.
“W
e’re having a ball act ually, I think because we have no expectations,” Fiona Patten, leader of the Aust ralian Sex Party tells 3D World. Patten had just been marching in the Melbourne Equal Love same-sex marriage promoting rally, but had to run home to plug her phone into the charger to continue our chat. “I mean we’d love to win a seat, but we haven’t got any expectations of the campaign so we’ve found that to be really refreshing and it’s enabled us to really have a lot of fun. Last night in Perth, South Aust ralia and Melbourne, and I think Brisbane, we all went on pub crawls. We all went down different st reets in Melbourne and by the time we got to the city there was about 30 of us and we were just getting mobbed by people.” It’s been a while since a Victorian candidate to the Senate, like herself, admitted to going on a pub crawl while the countdown to the elect ion is in single figures, but then again Patten’s party are trying to shake things up (see her debate on Sunrise with the Family First party – she made poor Wendy Francis look a lost and decidedly uncomfortable doting Grandmother). Born out of opposition to the proposed internet fi lter, they’re now classifying themselves as a civil liberties party, the only real one in the race. “I don’t think the general public, and particularly the people that I’m meeting, probably under 35s, are connect ing with either political party,” she says. “And most people are pretty disengaged with politics these days. And certainly the campaign that the major parties have been running I don’t think has engaged anyone’s passion.” A percentage of the increased profi le they’re getting this year has their name to thank, which was a suggest ion of the late leader of the Democrats Don ‘Chippy’ Chipp. He figured the name was suitable, and would help them stand out in the sea of mid-range parties, if they were dealing with issues of sex and gender. Campaigning on the back of policies regarding the internet fi lter, the un-banning of X-rated fi lms, same-sex marriages and the rights of euthanasia and abortion, they’re also pushing for the decriminalisation of all drugs. “We want to decriminalise all drugs, which means we don’t want to legalise them and we certainly don’t want to legalise drug dealers so drug dealing st ill remains an offence,” says the party’s Registered Officer Robert Swan. “But we want to decriminalise all personal possession of drugs, doesn’t matter what they are, whether it’s sleeping pills or marijuana or alcohol or cigarettes or heroin or crack or cocaine, it doesn’t matter. Whatever drug, we say they should be legal to possess and people should be prescribed these drugs by chemists and doctors, so that
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chemists and doctors take over running.” The thinking is, that by moving drug abuse from the criminal just ice system to the health administ ration, they’ll be able to combat the problem through professional channels and curb the fact that, “70 percent of people in jail in Aust ralia are in jail for crimes associated with the personal possession of drugs.” It’s a tough one to sell to the conservatives, but Patten’s convinced they’ve a large portion of the mainstream public behind them. Right now though, they’re focused on the last week of electioneering. “Well I know where we’re having the after party,” she laughs, “we really are playing it day by day. But we are hoping to launch a live music policy so the Sex Party can be fully complete with sex, drugs and rock’n’roll.”
SENSATIONAL SENATORS
When you number all those little boxes this weekend, hover your pencil over these guys for a moment or two. ROSALYN TOWNSEND/PHILLIP TOWNSEND (VICTORIA) Another husband/wife duo, proving that One Nation isn’t dead yet. Highlights from their party policy document include; on education, “Emphasis on responsibility, competition and discipline. We will reinstate School Inspectors, ensure Christ ian Values, Patriotism and Morality. Aptitude tests will be conducted.” On multiculturalism; “One Nation will abolish multiculturalism and the Racial Discrimination Act, promote assimilation, nationalism, loyalty and pride in being an Aust ralian.” We could go on. CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY (NATIONAL) By the word of God and by the love he inspires, Fred Nile’s party are open to everyone so long as you take your world view from the Bible’s pages. “CDP is opposed to laws that prevent or hinder anyone from living peaceably in accordance with His religious beliefs (for instance, antidiscrimination laws should not be used to force a Christ ian into renting accommodation to a homosexual couple).” SENATOR ON-LINE (NATIONAL) A party with no policies, they pledge to turn each matter in the Senate into an online poll where you, dear reader, can cast a vote in matters of the upper house. STEPHEN MAYNE/PAULA PICCININI (VICTORIA) You may recall Mayne of this husband and wife duo, he once scored 1.98 percent of the votes when he ran against an incumbent Peter Costello. He also founded the Crikey website and has had a career littered with controversy – most famously when News Limited columnist Glenn Milne pushed him off stage at the 2006 Walkley Awards.