The Reason Party is selling more than sex. But will voters buy it?

University of Melbourne, Lucy Lovegrove

Reason Australia, formerly the Australian Sex Party, is running a “pared-back” federal campaign, fielding just three candidates in the lower house and none in the Senate.

Listing budget constraints and the overhauled Senate voting system as factors, Reason founder and Victorian MP Fiona Patten says the bare-bones campaign was a difficult decision. There are 31 political parties running for the Senate in Victoria, she says, “so we looked at how could we have the best impact”.

“We were really concerned that we would get, you know, that we would have a wonderful Senate candidate and they would get a really small vote. And we just didn’t want to put a candidate through that.”

Aged care advocate Sarah Russell is running for Reason in Cooper. Drawing on her own experiences living with bipolar, and a research grant from Beyond Blue, she published A Lifelong Journey: Staying Well with Manic Depression/Bipolar Disorder in 2005.

Judy Ryan is contesting Melbourne on a platform of drug law reform, homelessness and mental health. Rachel Payne, general manager of the Eros Association, is taking on Liberal incumbent and arch conservative Kevin Andrews in Menzies who, Ms Patten argues, is out of step with community attitudes…

Read the full article on The Junction’s website.