The Australian Sex Party, or Sex Party for short, is in the final stage of obtaining approval from the Australian Electoral Commission for election funding and for registration as a non-parliamentary party.

The party's convener, and likely future candidate, Fiona Patten, said the party decided to get serious about politics when the Rudd Government decided to try to introduce a mandatory internet filter.

''That was the final straw. But when we started thinking about what a political party would be, we realised our agendas were around gender, sexuality and of course, censorship,'' she said.

Ms Patten is chief executive of the EROS Association, the national adult retail and entertainment association.

She said having lobbied federal and state governments on censorship for 20 years, it was time to try to achieve change ''from the inside''. In recent months the party had attracted the support of many people concerned about censorship, particularly in the under-35 age group.

For more, pick up a copy of today's Canberra Times