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back to article Australian Sex Party stands proud

Despite its failure to win any seats in last week’s Australian General Election, the Australian Sex Party was today celebrating its arrival on the scene as the "Major Minor Party" of Australian politics. This claim is based on the fact that after Coalition, Labor and Greens, the Sex Party (ASP) is now neck and neck with Family …

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  1. lglethal Silver badge
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    One thing i noticed from the results...

    Is that the ASP doesnt appear to have done deals for preferences like many other parties and this seems to have cost them in the final standing.

    They polled very well in the primaries but when the lowest voted for candidates started to drop out, the votes tended to be redistributed almost solely to the major parties. I credit this to too many people voting above the line and not putting the effort in to vote below the line (For the senate in Australia you have the choice of voting 1 for a party and then your preferences are handled as the party decides - voting above the line; or of numbering all of the candidates (84 in NSW) in order to precisely decide your preferences for yourself - voting below the line. Unfortunately too many Australians are lazy and didnt put the effort into decide there own preferences).

    Next time they should think about getting some preference deals going with some of the other parties such as the shooters party and the democrats. This will help them get in next time.

    But still theyve got my votes!

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    1. Michael Hoffmann Silver badge
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      What he said...

      I had to get another ballot 'cause I screwed up my first one, but no way was I voting over the line.

      Checking the ABC's number the ASP is only about 100 votes below the DLP candidate at current count. Still a chance! She had my vote!

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    2. Goat Jam
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      60 Senate Seats in Victoria

      and I voted below the line. Can't stand those cheerleading, true believer numpties who just vote for the same party year in year out. The next Hitler could come along but if he was "their guy" they would vote for him anyway.

      No wonder our so-called "democracies" are so fucked up.

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    3. Big-nosed Pengie
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      I make you right

      Although I doubt that the ASP membership would go along with a deal with the Redneck...I mean Shooters Party, they could certainly have done preference swap deals with the Democrats and, particularly, the Secular Party.

      Having said that, above-the-line voting is an abomination.

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    4. Mark 65
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      Not just laziness

      When you have 84 candidates to put in preferential order, how exactly do you go about this? It's not as simple as you think when considering the knock-on effects that you wish to avoid. Couple this with an unnoticed error meaning the ballot is worthless and it's not hard to see why people put the preferential above the line.

      84 is really taking the piss. There is only 6 places up for grabs each election (per state) I believe.

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  2. Lottie
    Pint

    Subheading win

    Have a pint for the subheading. Punariffic!

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    1. Anonymous Coward
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      Anonymous Coward

      Indeed.

      It's especially nice to see them standing proud in the australian bush.

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  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    [censored for your kids' protection]

    I had to laugh listening to the "debate". The poor family first girl wants sensorship because she's not parent enough to tell her kids "I'll tell you later". That's a strong theme with this sort of religious thinking: This here thing makes me unhappy so the rest of the world should accomodate me so I don't have to deal with it. Her rather blatantly disruptive attacks, mostly on a priori taken to be dark motives (because the sex industry is by definition bad, or something to that tune, therefore she doesn't have to do anything to remain obviously morally superior however low she stoops), told me she doesn't really have a reason for her policies except that she feels they're right, because change is bad, other people are bad, and obviously everybody is the same so we should protect everybody from the apparently not the same after all other, bad, people. With a nice not with us therefore against us bonus.

    So all the sex party has to do to counter it is be entirely reasonable and laid back. The thing is, I bet that the family first plus hangers on crowd will equally count this as a win. "She showed her, huh". Meaning that the message didn't come across, which is a pity. Still, the fact that the sex party is there is good news, and they appear to have a sound strategy to contain the madness.

    How the message didn't get accross to the fringe that drives the family first crowd is quite similar how the pastafarian satire doesn't turn people away from creationism. The points are too intelectual, and don't address the needs of the people who adopted the oppressive views in the first place. Who then will accuse any disagreement as "oppressive" themselves, with abandon and conviction. <insert suitable AC/DC song here>

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    1. Mark 65
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      Pun intended?

      "So all the sex party has to do to counter it is be entirely reasonable and laid back."

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      1. Anonymous Coward
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        Anonymous Coward

        Consider...

        ... that the general concensus tends to be that stuck up religious movements need to loosen up and get laid, and you have your answer. Wasn't concious, so obviously 'twas guidance from $DEITY. Mysterious ways and all that.

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  4. Anonymous John

    I expect

    That the Aussie firewall means that Antipodean readers can't see this article.

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    1. Michael Hoffmann Silver badge
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      Har...

      One thing that's pretty clear is that the Firewall is dead as a dodo.

      With the Greens stronger than ever it won't go anywhere. Give thanks to the blessings the FSM has bestowed upon us, yea, verily, with his own noodly appendages!

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  5. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    Family First?

    Surely it's Sex First? That's how my family started.

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  6. J 3
    Coat

    Their motto should be...

    The ASP's motto should be "Without sex there is no family". Maybe they have even used something like that already.

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  7. Anonymous Coward
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    ASP should change their name

    While the ASP have certainly acquired some political capital, they could possibly do much better by changing their name and broadening their scope.

    The name "Australian Sex Party", while attention getting, lacks the neutrality and gravitas that might appeal to the country's very conservative population. No one would really want to see a "Sex Party" being a member of government.

    Fiona Patten seems to be getting this message in some way, being dressed more like a businesswoman than a tart in the party's latest video joke.

    If she and her party could bite the bullet and extend their political ambitus enough that they didn't need to rely on "Sex" as a selling point, they could possibly do something impressive.

    As things stand, they are still banking on themselves as a novelty item.

    Here's hoping they are ready to get serious.

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    1. philbo
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      Change their name to..

      Public Health Party

      ..'cause everyone knows PHP is better than ASP

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    2. Anonymous Coward
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      Anonymous Coward

      Why would they do that?

      They don't want to be in government. They just want to put a damper on minority extremist pressure group influence, like from family first. And for that they're perfectly equipped. I daresay it not only upped their chances to succeed, but also upped their probable maximum possible influence of the kind they want, for they can easily sidestep being seen as an adversary by the big parties and therefore get the support of all of them. The concept is quite admirably well done, considering that.

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  8. E 2

    @AC

    My thought too. I think the FF party has things backward.

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  9. Goat Jam
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    They got my vote

    Just after the "Climate Skeptics Party"

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  10. Fred Flintstone Gold badge

    Haha, that's not a debate..

    The Familiy First woman is not capable of having a debate - she cannot allow someone to finish a sentence. As a matter of fact, she's not someone I would like to marry and have children with - can you imagine not being able to say *anything* without being interrupted?

    The Sex Party spokeswoman actually gives a very credible presentation of their stance and provides proper answers. What strikes me most is that the Sex Party rep punts facts, where the FF woman depends on artificial, unproven enforcement statements like "many people" and "most Australians". In other words, ASP hard facts (cough :-) versus FF bullshit. I didn't know either or what they stood for (I don't live in Oz) but on the basis of this "debate" the ASP would have my vote. The FF seems a bit like UK's New Labour in their desire to impose their ideology on others.

    Note the reaction of the presenter - she tries hard to remain neutral but you can see she's occasionally losing the fight..

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  11. Gumby1
    Go

    Had a great day supporting the ASP

    Given the two lemons we had to pick from I'm not surprised that the ASP picked up so many votes. Good on them and I was happy to through my efforts behind the pre election fun.

    Looking forward to more State Elections in the future.

    A nice day in the sun. http://www.flickr.com/photos/gumby_roffo/4914349791/

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