Like a shooting star in the sky, it came too soon and died away too fast. The Australian Sex Party has been deregistered from the Australian Electoral Commission for not having enough members.
This came as shocking news to all the members and supporters of the ASP which actually has an established membership list of 6000 people and an elected member in the Victorian Parliament. Despite this number, the AEC couldn’t find 500 bona fide registered members to keep the party going.
Robbie Swan, the registered officer and co-founder of the party, said since the party’s formation in 2009, there have been 6000 people who have signed a statutory declaration to become a party member. But since the majority of the members are young people who change their addresses frequently, rarely have a land line phone number and much more transient than the established Labor, Liberal or Green members, the Australian Sex Party has been hit at a disadvantage. And according to Mr Swan, the AEC doesn’t have the necessary funds and resources to properly go through the party lists one by one to make sure 500 members actually exist.
Australian Sex Party Fighting Back
Fiona Patten, leader of the ASP and elected Victorian MP, doesn’t want to back down either. “We’ll fight it”, said Ms Patten and added that the party has already appealed and is ready to re-register if necessary. Since the founding of the party, Ms Patten had made it her mission to fight for the rights of sex workers. She said since the AEC’s deregistration, there have been more people joining the party. Active members have also taken to Twitter and Facebook to protest this move, posting pictures of themselves holding their membership cards to prove the party has enough members and using #auspol to make their voices heard.
Smaller parties are at a disadvantage since they don’t have enough staff or the budget to track down members like the major parties. Mr Swan said the federal parliament needs to make urgent changes to the way the AEC ascertains 500 registered members or Australia’s small parties would cease to exist sooner rather than later.
The Australian Sex Party may have finished too soon but with the efforts of its current members and new members joining to support the party, we may still see them rise from the ashes.
To show your support for the Australian Sex Party, visit www.sexparty.org.au and become a member of the party or make a donation.
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