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Leave it to the Aussies to make elections fun.
Australians yesterday had the chance to vote for a sex party, a dagga party and the Smokers’ Rights Party in this week’s election.
Voting is mandatory in Australia for all adults, and turnout has not fallen below 90% since it became compulsory in 1924.
The Australian Sex Party was just one of 50 minor players on the ballot in the election.
Voters sick of the Liberal-Labour duopoly in Australian politics had ample choices at the polls, with a party for car enthusiasts, the Marijuana (Hemp) Party and other parties with no policies in the running.
While either Malcolm Turnbull’s Liberals or the Labour Party led by Bill Shorten will be elected to high office, minor party alliances can hold the balance of power in the senate. Turnbull is the current Prime minister.
The Australian Sex Party, established in 2009 in response to what it saw as escalating government encroachment on adults’ civil liberties, now has 6 000 members.
Among its policies, it advocates for nationally consistent age-of-consent laws, the decriminalisation of prostitution and voluntary assisted dying.
The Australian Motoring Enthusiasts Party has its own unique agenda, focusing not just on cars, but the preservation of family values while encouraging a sense of community.
Remarkably, at the last election in 2013, one of its candidates, Ricky Muir, who had no political experience, won a senate seat and, in an alliance with the Palmer United Party, held sway in the upper house. – TheJournal.ie
