Musician Adrian Trajstman – AKA Talkshow Boy – Mounts Political Campaign

If the name Adrian Trajstman doesn't ring a bell, perhaps the name Talkshow Boy will – at least for people with an interest in underground indie electro pop.

For years, Trajstman has performed under the Talkshow Boy moniker, as well as been a solid member of Melbourne electro/hip hop party punks Keith! Party.

But, as of last week, Trajstman will have an entirely new focus in his life as he, as a candidate for the Sex Party, sets his sights on the seat of Wills in the upcoming Federal Election. Today theMusic.com.au caught up with Trajstman to hear about his political journey thus far and what he has planned for his forthcoming campaign.

“I've been involved with the party since 2010 in a voluntary capacity; I became a member after seeing Fiona Patten debating Wendy Francis from Family First on Sunrise and I just thought she was fantastic, a voice I'd like to have in parliament,” Trajstman says of his first interaction with the party. “Then I went to their website and had a look at their policies one-by-one and I was like, 'Yep, I agree with that, I agree with that, I agree with that…'.”

Trajstman will campaign for all the major policies of the Australian Sex Party, though there are three issues that he looks to focus on particularly.

“The big ones that we are looking at for this particular election are ending the tax exempt status for religious institutions, there's a lot of money going towards religious institutions that could be better spent elsewhere,” he begins. “We don't think it's a good idea for government to invest money in promoting religion when there's so much other stuff that that money could be spent on.

“Drug law reform is another big one we will be looking at; drugs aren't disappearing and they're not going to disappear. We're wanting to tax and regulate the supply of marijuana and allow for possession, use and cultivation for personal use for adults.

“Another big one we're taking to the table this election is marriage equality, it's about time something happened on that.”

While Trajstman will remain involved in the music scene as a performer, he concedes that, politically, there's more to be done at a state level than federally.

“I'm not disappearing off the music scene – I'm still going to be involved in music – but with regards to whether we'll be addressing live music issues, that's something we'll probably more be looking at on a state level, with regards to licensing and so on,” he says.

“With regards to live music, a lot of the time people want to lump assault – and particularly this media whip up of 'alcohol fuelled assault' – they want to lump that in with live music; they're two separate issues and that's always been the Sex Party's view. A crime is a crime; if somebody commits an assault, that's an assault, that's not live music's fault. It's not caused because they were out late partying, it was caused because they decided to hit somebody.”

No matter what the result is come election time (whenever that is), Trajstman is just happy to be airing issues that the major parties may be overlooking. Wills is currently the second safest Labor seat in the country, though the Sex Party believes there are plenty who are no longer happy with that party.

“People are disenfranchised with Labor. Labor is in turmoil. We're attracting votes from people who have voted all different ways previously. In terms of attracting votes, the main thing is I want to get the issues out there; I want to be out there and saying 'Hey, the other parties might not be talking about these issues, but these are important to us'.

“Even being in the line of sight of Labor voters, that's making me happy.”

You can listen to Trajstman's music here.