August 12, 2013
Politics seems like a mug’s game, but as I meet the candidates I’m realising there are some very passionate people who want to stand up for what they believe is best for Australia. Jayden Millard, Corangamite candidate from the Australian Sex Party, says he’s one of them.
Why do you want to be a politician?
Because I love my country too much. I don’t want it to go to rack and ruin with the current illogical, nonsensical policies of the major political parties. The way I see it, the government is there to provide a fair playing field for its citizens and currently they’re not doing that. They’ve handed too much to either big money or to those who can yell the loudest, like the church. This needs to stop. We need to stop taxing people, making our cost of living increase when they continue to up their pay packets. We just need sensibility in parliament, some common sense, and why not me? I’m graduating uni at the end of the year. I need a job. Why not aim for the top?
It’s often said you should avoid discussing sex, politics and religion to avoid arguments. The Australian Sex Party represents two of the three, and with a policy about taxing religion you’re in the third area too. How do people react to the party’s name and policies?
They’re a little standoffish at first with the name. People always think it’s like an orgy. But once I explain to people that our policies are sound, backed by science, and fair, they’re usually on board pretty quickly. It’s just the name can scare people in the beginning. But sex is natural, we all do it, we all want it, we all need it to continue our species. So sex is sex, why is it so taboo? We need to open up the conversation and the discussion of fairness, science, nature, logic, reason that are currently underrepresented in Australian parliament.
I have asked people what they think the Australian Sex Party stands for. You’ve got to get your message to 100,000 people in our electorate and I couldn’t find anyone who knew, but then after they went to Google and read the policies, they were quite surprised. So, is that a barrier, calling your party the ‘sex party’?
That is a barrier and I think it is the biggest hurdle I’ll have to climb, and also our drugs policy is one of the hardest ones. But I need to get out there and make enough noise and it may seem a little bit offensive or taboo, but our policies are sound and we are fighting for the people and we are fighting for fairness, we are fighting for equality and the right to live our lives the way we want.
I looked a little into your taxing religions policy and raised that with people who have said ‘Churches do good work, charitable work’. I think the part they don’t understand is that some churches run businesses. (Sanitarium’s Weetbix, for example) That is what you are targeting, isn’t it? Religions would still be able to claim tax deductions for charitable work?
Definitely. For their charitable work, definitely. The good they are doing for society is good, but they have abused their moral contract in the last 20 to 30 years by abusing our future, they’ve been abusing our children. This Royal Commission is going to cost taxpayers millions of dollars, the churches are not going to pay for that, this is coming out of our money. So they’ve lost their right to go tax free, in my opinion, for their business holdings. I was reading last night that in America, I’m not sure of the Australian numbers, but the church owns 25{17ac88c265afb328fa89088ab635a2a63864fdefdd7caa0964376053e8ea14b3} of American land. That would have to be similar here. They don’t pay land tax on that. How is that fair? We get lumped with increased land taxes, capital gains taxes. That’s not fair.
I notice that you have been denied a chance to have an opening address at the upcoming Australian Youth Climate Coalition forum on climate change [Torquay August 13, 2013] while the ALP, Liberal and Greens candidates get a five-minute speech.
First of all, it’s undemocratic to deny anybody the right to speak at one of these forums. Politics should rightly be about the people and the people I represent. It might be a minority at the moment, but I should be given the right to speak. I know that we don’t have policies on the environment, but a lot of our policies, like increased government revenue, can go toward helping with renewable energy and meeting emissions targets. So first of all I am angry that I have been denied that right to speak, but I have been given the opportunity to release a handout to the people in attendance. But I don’t think that is good enough. The question has to be raised, do Liberals, Labor and Greens get to hand out pamphlets?
In regards to the environment, renewable energy and climate change, we need to take a commonsense approach. Without a properly functioning environment we cannot function as a species. There will come a point with loss of biodiversity, increasing climate change, biological mutation, all these scientific phenomena that happen, we’ll just die out … I’m hoping people don’t forget that small parties, even when we don’t have policies on the environment, we are still for the environment.
Liberal or Labor will form government, so do you support the emissions trading scheme of the Labor Party or the direct action plan of the Liberal Party?
I believe the Liberal scheme is just a band-aid solution on a serious problem. Labor has got a little bit more of an idea.
In 2010 the Greens and Independent voters played a part in electing Labor’s Darren Cheeseman. How will your preferences go this year?
It’s a little bit too early to discuss preferences at the moment because the ballot hasn’t been decided yet. Usually they go to likeminded parties like the Labor, the Greens, the independents.
How do you grab people’s attention and direct them to you and away from the older parties?
We have to keep things fresh and keep things new. We have to show people that we do care. We have strong policies that will benefit the population. Sex sells. We have to get out there and show people sex is here and sex is here to stay, and try and grab their attention. I have got a few things up my sleeve that I hope to bring out over the next couple of weeks.
So what is the one issue people are talking to you about in relation to the election?
The economy is the big one. The cost of living. Jobs. Especially in this electorate with Alcoa, Shell, Ford in Geelong and in Colac, Fonterra. Jobs is a big one. The environment, the states’ encroachment onto national parks. The Great Ocean Road is another big one. I used to work in the information centre down in Apollo Bay so I have an understanding of how important that road is to not just tourism, but the people living in those regions.
Does your party have any strategies for jobs?
Not particularly, no strategies per se, but that being said, if the regulation and taxing of cannabis did pass parliament the industry that could be created for the selling of that plant would be huge. The logistics around sales of the product, growing the plant, the horticulture; there are so many jobs that could be created in that industry alone.
I have to ask you about the legalising of marijuana. You’ve indicated there are benefits for the economy but there are also potential health impacts.
The arguments in regards to the health impacts of cannibals are over-exaggerated. [Jayden tweeted this link after our meeting] There is no scientific evidence that does prove that cannabis does cause things like depression. It can have the impact of exacerbating symptoms of people already with the underlying disorder. So by regulating and taxing the drug, or the plant, because it is a plant, it would put revenue back into the system to deal with a problem that does already exist. So with the health concerns, the arguments are nullified.
I think of things like the road toll. I know they can test for drugs now but …
They can and, again, there would have to be a limit set, as there is with alcohol.
If marijuana was made legal, someone else might say, “Let’s make cocaine legal”, or “Let’s make heroin legal”. Is this the starting point or is this a policy in isolation?
Well, at the moment it is in isolation. It’s too early to go discussing cocaine or methamphetamines or that sort of stuff. The way prohibition works, anyone with money can buy the drug, so you go down to a school and kids can get weed. The dealer doesn’t care how old they are; as long as they have got cash they can buy it. But if you direct them to a licensed venue that can sell it to them, they have to be 18 years old to buy it, usually with a licence. They can also be offered help, they can be offered education, health services.
I’m looking at it as a parent now. By it being illegal, my kids know they shouldn’t do drugs, but if it is legal they might think, “When I am 18 I can have that” because they can, legally.
There is no evidence to suggest that usage increases after it becomes regulated and legalised. The fact of the matter is there is a market, a black market exists right now. It is testament to prohibition’s failure that it exists and flourishes under prohibition.
Are there countries where it is legal?
Two states in the US for recreational use last year. Ecuador has moved to legalise and decriminalise, as has Portugal in the past five to six years. New Zealand has recently enacted new drugs laws to move toward a reduction model rather than a prohibition model. It is slowly expanding around the world.
Do you think a party that has policies on a limited number of policy areas can make inroads against parties that have policies across everything?
Yes, definitely, because our policies do affect people. For example, our national sex education curriculum will go a long way to decreasing abortion, STD infection rates, violence against women. Our policies will help the people and will have a definite impact on people.
Is there a politician, past or present who you admire?
Barack Obama. He is my hero. The man is just so eloquent; he has this aura about him. He is for the people.
I like (former Labor attorney-general) Nicola Roxon, she is just so affable, when she was in the parliament of, course. She is just a lovely person. I did admire Julia (Gillard) too. I think she copped a bum deal in this male-dominated media especially. History will remember her better. She got a lot of reforms across while she was in the job as prime minister. She did a lot for the country.