Culture

The Australian Sex Party Takes Aim At The Catholic Church In A Ballsy New Campaign Ad

It's super catchy.

by Tom Clift  26 June 2016

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Wow. The Australian Sex Party has just dropped its latest campaign ad, and boy is it something. Featuring a flamboyant priest dancing to the tune of ‘The Candy Man Can’, the commercial aims both barrels at the Vatican, accusing the church of indoctrinating children, discriminating against LGBTIQ people and just generally “making the world less good.”

It’s also really catchy.

While the ad is obviously designed to generate controversy, it also puts into focus one of the Sex Party’s major policies: ending tax exemption for religious organisations. Speaking to The Huffington Post, Sex Party Candidate Dr. Meredith Doig described groups like Scientology and Hillsong as “cults” whose leaders “exploit this tax loophole to run businesses that otherwise would be subject to normal taxation.” “It’s time for religion to pay their way. I pay my tax — why don’t they?” he added.

According to a recent Essential Report, 64 percent of Australians disapprove of religious organisations having tax-exempt status.

The Australian Sex Party, meanwhile, is fielding Senate candidates in every state and territory in the Federal Election next week, and will contend six seats in the House of Representatives – four in Victoria and two in NSW. This is despite a brief snafu last year when they were temporarily deregistered by the electoral commission for failing to show they had a minimum 500 registered members.