Family First Party | |
|---|---|
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| Abbreviation |
|
| Leader | Lyle Shelton |
| Chairperson | Tom Kenyon |
| Founders | |
| Founded | 28 July 2021; 4 years ago (28 July 2021) |
| Split from | South Australian Labor |
| Preceded by | Family First (2002) |
| Headquarters | Chatswood,Sydney,New South Wales |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Right-wing[4] |
| Colours | Indigo |
| Website | |
| familyfirstparty.org.au | |
| Part ofa series on |
| Conservatism in Australia |
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TheFamily First Party (FFP) is anAustralian political party based inSouth Australia, founded in 2021 by former stateLabor ministersJack Snelling andTom Kenyon. As of March 2022, the former managing director of theAustralian Christian Lobby (ACL),Lyle Shelton is the party's National Director.[5]Opposing abortion andeuthanasia are regarded as some of the party's key policies.[6]
TheFamily First Party previously existed as a political party in Australia, founded in 2002 byAndrew Evans, who won a seat in theSouth Australian Legislative Council at thestate election that year.[7] In 2017 it merged with theAustralian Conservatives which dissolved in 2019.[7][8]
On 28 July 2021,Jack Snelling andTom Kenyon both left the Labor Party, forming the Family First Party.[7][9] Snelling said that he was the chairman of an incorporated association called "Family First Party" which was not yet registered as a political party.[10] He said that "I have had no discussions with anybody in theALP",[11] and that he had not discussed the decision to form Family First with either party leaderPeter Malinauskas or Labor's state executive.[7]
Snelling claimed that "we have the support of some of the founding members of Family First including Andrew Evans".[7] Evans said that "I don't mind them doing it. It puts a brake on the major parties", but added that he would not be involved in the new party as "I've done my bit".[10] Former Family First senatorBob Day, who had formed theAustralian Family Party in 2020, was not supportive, noting the founders' history with the Labor Party.[12] Former Senator and leader of theAustralian Conservatives,Cory Bernardi, said of Family First that he would "cheer them on", and that he had released intellectual property associated with the former Family First name to the new party.[13] The party also acquired the old Family First's "data base of about 6000 supporters".[9]
Commentators noted that theLiberalMarshall government in South Australia was led bymoderates who had supported reforms relating toabortion andeuthanasia.[9][13] Snelling said that "we are very concerned aboutreligious freedom and attempts to restrict that freedom", and that "I think that particularly in the last few years the political environment has shifted significantly in both the major parties where you simply cannot prosecute arguments about religious liberty".[9] In particular he cited "moves to restrict the rights of hospitals and clinicians to refuse to participate in abortions and euthanasia" as a concern.[7] It was reported that "former Family First insiders" believed that the new party was formed with the intent of taking marginal seats from the Liberal Party in northeastern Adelaide.[11]
A few days later Deepa Mathew, who ran for the Liberal Party in the seat ofEnfield at the2018 South Australian state election, became the first prominent Liberal Party member to join Family First.[14] Mathew claimed that the Liberal Party was "introducing legislation that is a serious threat to the very fabric of our society and families, especially around individual's and organisations' freedom to be able to conscientious object based on your beliefs".[14] Federal Liberal MP forBoothby,Nicolle Flint, called Mathew's defection a "big loss for the Liberal Party", and that she was "deeply saddened to learn that Deepa was leaving the Liberal Party – I firmly believe if you want to change things do it from within".[14]
The party was registered by theElectoral Commission of South Australia on 13 January 2022.[15]
On 27 May 2022, the party announced the appointment of formerAustralian Christian Lobby bossLyle Shelton as their National Director.[5]
In 2023, former Victorian state Liberal MPBernie Finn joined the party.[16]
In May 2024, the party was registered in Queensland[17] and Australian Capital Territory.[18]
In September 2024, the party gained its first elected member whenAustralian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly memberElizabeth Kikkert joined the party, after being disendorsed by theCanberra Liberals. She lost her seat one month later at the2024 ACT election.[19]
The party also ran in the2024 Queensland state election in October 2024.
Source:[20]
The party contested the2024 Queensland state election, The party failed to win any seats, obtaining 1.8% of the vote.
The party contested the2024 Australian Capital Territory election, The party failed to win any seats, obtaining 2.4% of the vote.
The party, unregistered in New South Wales, ran in the2023 New South Wales state election for the Legislative Council as a group list withLyle Shelton. The group list got 1.1% with 58,361 votes.
The party contested theVictorian State Election.[21] Family First Victoria was registered as a political party with theVictorian Electoral Commission as of 6 October 2022.[22]
The party ran in all 88 seats of the Victorian House of Assembly and all seats in the Legislative Council. They failed to win any seats, obtaining 3.05% of the vote in the lower house, and 2.01% of the vote in the upper house.
After the state election, The party ran in the2023 Narracan state by election getting 2.9%, the2023 Warrandyte state by-election getting 2.8%, and the2023 Mulgrave state by-election getting 3.1%.
The party ran candidates in the2022 South Australian state election.[7][9] Initially, Family First said it aimed to run in all 47 seats of theSouth Australian House of Assembly.[11] Snelling did not intend to run, butKenyon was reported to be considering candidacy.[10]
Whencandidate lists were finalised, Family First had candidates in 34 seats, and three candidates (Tom Kenyon, Deepa Mathew and Craig Bowyer) for the Legislative Council.[23][24] At the election, the party received 3.7% of the primary vote in the Lower House and 3.05% in the Upper House, and were not successful in getting any candidate elected.[25] Their highest vote was in the seat ofRamsay with 11.4% – a 6.9% swing to the party.[26]
Tom Kenyon, the party's Chairman, reflected on Family First's results after the election: “Our primary goal was to unseat bad members in the lower house, to get a better parliament, and show that we can move the Christian vote around.”[27]
“The life and freedom vote moved about five to ten per cent in a whole bunch of seats, and that counts,” he said. “I don’t think they can discount us now.”[27]
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| State and territory parliaments (parties not represented federally) |
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