I must admit, I’ve been quite looking forward to reading up on the Australian Sports Party, because ever since I heard that they had (possibly) won a Senate seat last year, I couldn’t help but wonder what sort of representation sport truly needed in Australia that it wasn’t already getting?  As a nation, we seem obsessed with sports  – though, admittedly, more with watching them than playing them.

Then, this morning, before I even had a chance to start looking at my blog for the day, my Facebook feed helpfully presented me with a petition about the Sports Party, which apparently likes to display topless women and make sexist jokes as part of their advertising.  Oh dear.  While I am, in fact, more disposed to be amused by this than offended by it, I have to admit, it’s pretty sad that a political party in this century could think that this would be a good way to get attention.  Do they honestly think this will lead to people taking them seriously?  And has it even occurred to them that this sort of advertising implicitly tells women ‘nope, you aren’t the people we are representing.  You are – if sufficiently attractive – the prize for the people we are representing’.

Aargh.  I’ve been trying not to do feminist rants on this blog, but seriously, Western Australia, some of your tiny political parties have issues.
(Oh, let’s be fair now.  Everyone’s tiny political parties have issues, regardless of where they originate.  That’s more or less what they are for…).

Anyway, let’s have a gander at who they are sending votes towards with their group voting ticket, shall we?

The Australian Sports Party seems to have signed the Teeny Tiny Party Pact along with everyone else I’ve been reviewing, and is sending their votes to Freedom and Prosperity, Sustainable Population, the Australian Voice, Fishing and Lifestyle and the Mutual Party.  You will note a certain right-wing loony leaning here, though it’s probably too soon to judge (but when did that ever stop me?).  They are also friendly with the Motorists, Building Australia, Voluntary Euthanasia and the Republican Party of Australia.  All the Christian parties show up in a row the late twenties (starting with Rise Up Australia, eek), with the DLP at 27-28 and family First at 31-32.  I sense some good, hearty, sports-oriented Family Values here.  Palmer United turns up in the late thirties, and the Liberal Party in the mid-40s, followed by HEMP.  Heh.  Way down at the bottom of the ticket, we have the ungrouped independents, Save Our ABC, and Smokers’ Rights.  Because sitting in front of the TV, smoking, is the opposite of sport.  Interestingly, they also don’t like the Outdoor Recreation Party, and the Greens manage to fall just ahead of the Labor Party and the National Party, which is not what I would have expected.  The picture is thus not entirely clear.  (Possibly because they aren’t tuned in to the ABC?)

Note: this post is incomplete, as it somehow disappeared from WordPress after I posted it.  I discovered this about two weeks later, and was able to find the above in a Google Cache.  I have no idea where the rest of the post is, and given that the election is over now, I don’t think I will attempt to re-create it at this point.  Especially as, to my recollection, the Australian Sports Party didn’t actually have very many policies anyway.