Democratic Labour Party applies to change name to ‘Stop Pedophiles Party’

A minor party forced to change its name after the State Government changed the law to prevent double-ups has applied to call itself the “Stop Pedophiles! Protect Kiddies!” party.

WA Labor feared the registration of the Democratic Labour Party — which would appear as Labour DLP on ballot papers at the State election — would cause voter confusion and cost the Government votes.

Under changes rushed through Parliament last month, the State Government created a new rule which meant where there were similarly named political parties, the newer group would need to seek approval from the original party.

As a result of the laws, the Democratic Labour Party’s secretary, Hugh Dolan, has applied to the WA Electoral Commission to rebadge the group as “Stop Pedophiles! Protect kiddies!”.

The West understands WA Labor was not asked by the DLP to continue using the “Labour’ name.

The Commission is considering objections to the new name until Thursday.

Speaking to The West on Tuesday, Mr Dolan hit out at Labor’s “political bastardry” over forcing the name change, with the new name reflecting the party’s “key policy position”.

“We wish to introduce legislation and Parliament to curb and stop the activity of paedophiles in Western Australia,” he said.

“Experts have told us that maybe as many as one in 1000 men are on the paedophile spectrum.

“We need to set up a policing body that doesn’t react, that actually searches for paedophiles within our government agencies, within churches, within schools and in daycares.

“We need to be proactive, and we need legislation that assists our police commissioner in hunting down these evil men.”

The Opposition used the laws to slam the Government for being too concerned about its vote and not West Australians.

“It’s an insult to the people of Western Australia to say that they cannot distinguish between the two names ... that is saying that your voters are unable to read properly,” Opposition Leader Shane Love said last month.

One senior Labor source said the DLP’s presence at the election could cost the Government a seat in the Upper House through voter confusion.

Last month, Premier Roger Cook accused those who registered the DLP name of trying to “game the election” by “swindling voters”.

“They’re trying to basically garner votes by simply creating an opportunity for misunderstanding of the ballot box and to encourage someone to give them a vote when they, of course, wanted to vote for the Australian Labor Party,” Mr Cook said.

“This is not about defending the interests of Labor. This is about defending the interests of democracy and making sure that we do everything we can to ensure that our democratic processes continue to maintain the confidence of the West Australian people.”