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Family First Party

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This article is about the Australian political party. For the New Hampshire health charity, please see Families First
Family First Party
LeaderSteve Fielding
Founded2002
HeadquartersPO Box 1042
Campbelltown SA 5074
IdeologySocial Conservatism
International affiliationNo affiliation
Website
Family First Party

The Family First Party is a political party in Australia. Family First is a party which was instituted in order to win the votes of poeple who care more about themselves than abut their fellow human beings. FF members have a particular dislike for people who look different or act differently to themselves. FF members are keen to advance their own - particularly financial - interests, even if it comes at the net expense of others. FF is awesome!

The party was founded in South Australia in time to contest the 2002 state elections, when former Assemblies of God pastor Dr Andrew Evans became its first MLC, winning a seat in the South Australian Legislative Council. A second MLC, Dennis Hood, was elected at the 2006 South Australian election.

In the October 2004 federal election it contested seats all over Australia, generally exchanging preferences with Liberal candidates (but in some seats exchanging preferences with the ALP). The party's Federal leader is Steve Fielding, a Victorian elected to the Australian Senate in 2004.

Election Results

2002 South Australian Election

The first election Family First contested was the 2002 South Australian Election. Dr Andrew Evans received a primary vote of 4.02% [1] which, with preferences from other parties, was sufficient to get him elected to one of the 11 seats available in the South Australian Legislative Council.

2004 Federal Election

The party agreed to share House of Representatives preferences with the Liberal-National Coalition at the 2004 election [2] (with some exceptions discussed below).

Family First did better than initially expected at the election, picking up 1.76 percent of the vote nationally, and outpolling the Australian Democrats by more than 40,000 votes. This resulted in an unexpected and controversial victory in Victoria, where candidate Steve Fielding was elected on preferences to the Federal Senate, despite receiving less primary votes than the Greens' David Risstrom.

The party also came close to picking up other Senate seats in Tasmania and in South Australia where the then party leader Andrea Mason narrowly missed out. Their preferences also assisted the performance of the governing Liberal Party in several House of Representatives seats, such as in the highly marginal South Australian seat of Makin.

State Elections since 2004

In the 2005 Western Australian Election, Family First polled just over 2% in the Legislative Council (although only contesting 5 of 6 seats)[3]. Interestingly, in 2005, the Liberal member for Ningaloo, Rod Sweetman, and Alan Cadby (who was defeated in Liberal preselection for a further term) offered to serve out their parliamentary terms as a Family First members - an offer which was rejected by Family First due to their both supporting a bill for decriminalisation of abortion in 1998.[4]

In the 2006 South Australian election, Family First's vote increased to 4.98% in the Legislative Council,[5] and a second Member of the Legislative Council was elected - former pharmaceutical executive Dennis Hood. In several rural and outer metropolitan seats, Family First's vote approached 10% - and in the seat of Kavel, Tom Playford achieved a vote of 15.7%.[6] In the Legislative Council, Family First shares the balance of power with the other minor parties and independents.

The 2006 Queensland State Election saw Family First receive a primary vote of 7% in contested seats, with a high of 14.5% and several other seats posting results of 10% [7] [8]. Queensland does not have an Upper House, and these results were insufficient for any candidates to be elected.

The 2006 Victorian State Election saw Family First's vote increase from 1.9% to 4.27% of first preferences [9], however no candidates were elected.

Internal politics

Family First is registered as an incorporated company, meaning that many party decisions can be made by a board rather than the party as a whole. A National Conference occurs at least once every two years, and various States have public Annual General Meetings.

Currently the national executive consists of:

  • Co-Founder and Acting Chairman: Andrew Evans
  • Treasurer: Chris Baker
  • Secretary: Matt Burnet
  • Board Member: Dennis Hood
  • Board Member: Peter Greaves
  • Board Member: Susan Fielding
  • Board Member: Andrea Mason

Policies

A complete list of Family First's declared policies may be found on their website[10].

Asylum seekers

Family First contends that it has a 'compassionate' stance towards asylum seekers, supporting fast on-shore processing. In what would have been a deciding vote, Federal leader Steve Fielding opposed the Liberal Government to ensure that asylum seekers to Australia are not processed in overseas detention facilities. This resulted in the government not proceeding with the proposed legislation [11]

Drugs

Family First oppose harm reduction as a primary strategy for combating drug abuse, instead favouring prevention, rehabilitation, and avoidance.

Environment

Family First state that they are environmentalist, their policy document stating that "Family First is committed to the environment as essential to ensuring the health and happiness of future generations of families".

In the South Australian parliament, Family First has regularly taken outspoken environmental positions on topics such as desalination schemes[12] and the Murray-Darling Basin[13].

However, in the 2006 Victorian election, Family First advocated several positions that that the Australian Conservation Foundation viewed as non-environmental[14][15]. These positions included the construction of new dams to increase water supplies [16], arguing for a reduction in fuel taxes [17], arguing against cuts to existing logging agreements, and specifically supporting continued access to public lands for "recreational fishing, shooting and hunting" [18].

Euthanasia

Family First is opposed to euthanasia, holding the view that "the duty of health carers is to promote health, relieve suffering and safeguard life". Instead, they favour palliative care.

Gay Rights

Family First opposes gay adoptions, IVF treatment for gay couples, and does not acknowledge gay civil unions (currently, same-sex marriage is not legally recognized in Australia), stating their affirmation of marriage as "a union of a man and a woman"[19].

Family First's published policies prominently affirm the value of stable, committed, heterosexual relationships. They also seek to support families going through separation and/or divorce, and sole parents (see "The Family"[20]). Their website and policies contain few references to homosexuality [21]. Most of these references are found in media articles or references to other parties' policies [22].

Their only official gay rights-related policy is that "all co-dependents should not be discriminated against – whether Homosexual or not"[23]. A practical outworking of this view is Dr Andrew Evans's call for caution and broader consideration in same-sex superannuation changes[24]. He mentions "two women who are in a relationship of domestic co-dependence", and asks "By failing to include domestic co-dependents, does this bill perpetuate discrimination rather than remove it?".

In South Australia, Family First successfully lobbied the government to include a number of changes into proposed gay-rights legislation. The changes included a clear elevation of marriage above gay and de-facto relationships, and the removal of the sexual relations test as a pre-requisite before rights could accrue (which has resulted in non-sexual 'domestic co-dependent' relationships now being recognised in South Australia on the same level as sexual gay relationships). [25]

The party has expressed unfavourable views on homosexuality elsewhere. An example of this is their campaign to allow Christian schools to discriminate against job applicants based on religion and sexuality. Andrea Mason, then the Party Leader, spoke against anti-discrimination efforts by the Greens and Democrats: "The Greens and Democrats policies aim to remove discrimination against what they term as LGBTI people... they want to see that transvestites and others have the right to teach our children" (Sydney Morning Herald, October 8 2004).

Family First's strong opposition to gay relationships was demonstrated in their direction of preferences in the 2004 election. While Family First generally directed their preferences to the conservative Coalition ahead of Labor, they reversed this in the seats of Brisbane and Leichhardt because Ingrid Tall (Liberal candidate for Brisbane) is a lesbian, and Warren Entsch (Liberal candidate for Leichhardt) supports gay marriage[26][27].

Indigenous Australians

Family First was the first party in Australia to nominate an Aboriginal woman, lawyer Andrea Mason, as party President. The party did hope to attract a large Aboriginal vote in South Australia where Andrea Mason was touted as possibly the first Aboriginal woman to be elected to parliament.

Although Family First's policy on indigenous Australians does not specifically address the Stolen Generation, Mason has said: "I think there is a cobweb, there is a veil over our country... in terms of this unresolved issue... I think that there will be a significant change in the way we perceive ourselves and our relationships with each other when there is an apology made to the stolen generations"[28].

Industrial Relations

Family First is opposed to the Howard government's Australian Workplace Agreement measures, campaigning against the measures in the Federal Senate [29]. In his Maiden Speech, Senator Steve Fielding argued for a fairer work / rest / and 'family time' or leisure balance in opposing the measures. [30]

Pornography

Family First advocate opt-out filtering of internet pornography at the Internet service provider (ISP) level as a matter of child protection.

"It is a national travesty that is so easily fixed if the Government and the opposition would exercise their moral will and pass legislation that requires Internet Service Providers (ISP’s) to provide a compulsory filtering of pornography on the Internet", said Andrea Mason in a media release on Wednesday, 25 August 2004[31].

War in Iraq

Family First believes that the 2003 invasion of Iraq was wrong because diplomatic avenues had not been exhausted, but that having participated in that invasion Australia is now obliged to protect Iraqis and Australians in Iraq through a military presence[32].

Christian connections

Detractors of Family First regularly claim that Family First is an 'Assemblies of God' party, or Christian political party. That issue is the subject of dispute. Australia's political climate is predominantly secular and there is general disapproval of overt public manifestations of faith. In 2004, then party leader Andrea Mason said that "we are not a Christian party"[33] - a sentiment echoed by others in the party at that time.

Co-founder Andrew Evans was the General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God in Australia for twenty years[34]. In the first South Australian election and the 2004 Federal Election, Family First fielded a number of candidates from churches, including a number of Assemblies of God churches. In New South Wales, 11 of their 23 candidates for the 2004 legislative election were from a single Assemblies of God church, the Hawkesbury Church in Windsor.

In the 2004 election, the Family First-Coalition preference arrangement caused some controversy when, the day before the election, Queensland National senate candidate Barnaby Joyce publicly slammed the party, calling them "the lunatic Right", and stating that "these are not the sort of people you do preference deals with"[35] (Ironically, Joyce himself benefited from these deals, winning a very close-run Senate race with the aid of Family First preferences). Joyce's comments came in response to a pamphlet published by one of the party's Victorian Senate candidates, Danny Nalliah who in his capacity as a church pastor had criticised other religions and homosexuality. Nalliah's statements were not endorsed by the party as a whole.

In 2004, Family First Federal Secretary Dr Matt Burnet issued a press release entitled 'Setting the Record Straight' contending:

"The party is not a church party or an Assembly of God party, nor is it funded by AOG churches. It does see itself as SOCIALLY CONSERVATIVE, with Family Values based on Christian ethics. Like any main-stream party we do not have on record the religious affiliations of any of our members. The Board of Reference in South Australia includes business-people, members of the medical profession, as well as ministers and people from Catholic, Baptist, Lutheran, Uniting and other church groups. The rapid national growth of the party leading into this election and the late decision to contest in all seats possible, has meant that in some states there are candidates, with strong family values, who have been introduced to the party through the personal relationships they have from their involvement in community/church networks"[36].

Similar parties

The Christian Democratic Party has existed under various names since 1974. Many of its policies are similar to those of Family First, and in the 2004 election the two parties directed preferences to each other.

While Family First has publicly stated positions on most major issues in Australian politics (see above), the CDP has a narrower political focus. For instance, unlike Family First, the CDP has not publicly taken a position on immigration and detention policies, or the war in Iraq (although CDP leader Fred Nile is personally supportive of the Coalition's policies on this issue).

The CDP has never had anywhere near the level of support Family First has managed to attract within a few years of its emergence. One possible reason for this is an Australian reluctance to combine religion and politics — where Family First has striven to present itself as a secular party, the CDP emphasises its Christian beliefs, and its public leader Fred Nile is an ordained minister. Another possible reason is Fred Nile's notoriously outspoken rhetoric, which may have reflected badly upon the CDP. Besides broadening Family First's direct appeal to voters, its less religious image may also have made it easier to secure valuable preference deals with other parties. The Family First party also showed a surprising degree of national organisation for a newly-formed political party; this may be associated with the experienced former Liberal Party figures who have become members of the party. Finally, Family First has mixed ethical positions usually associated with the conservative right with other positions associated with the left, allowing those people who are opposed to (for example) both abortion and the war in Iraq to be able to vote for a single party.

The Democratic Labor Party, based in Melbourne also had similar policies. The DLP was once Australia's fourth largest party, but lost support and was dissolved in 1976. Much like Family First, it had strong religious influences (in the DLP's case, Catholic); it was often seen as a 'Christian values party', but did not describe itself as such. A successor party of the same name and with similar policies still contests Victorian elections, winning an upper house seat in 2006.

Relations with other parties

Despite various policy differences, Family First and the three major parties generally avoid antagonising one another; minor parties often need major-party preferences to win Senate representation, and major parties often need minor-party support to pass legislation through the Senate.

By contrast, Family First and the Australian Greens are often at odds. The two parties are in competition for preferences (particularly from the Labor Party) and ideologically opposed on many issues. In the 2006 Victorian election, Family First's limited television advertising campaign specifically singled out the Greens for criticism [37].

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