Family First Party (2021)

Last updated

Family First Party
Leader Lyle Shelton
Chairperson Tom Kenyon
Founders Jack Snelling
Tom Kenyon
Founded28 July 2021 (2021-07-28)
Registered13 January 2022 (SA)
6 October 2022 (Vic)
Split from Australian Labor Party
Preceded by Family First
Ideology Christian politics
Social conservatism
Familialism
Political position Right-wing
Slogan"Worth Fighting For"
Website
www.familyfirstparty.org.au

The Family First Party is an Australian political party based in South Australia, founded on 28 July 2021 by former state Labor ministers Jack Snelling and Tom Kenyon. As of March 2022, Lyle Shelton is the party's National Director. [1]

Contents

History

The Family First Party previously existed as a political party in Australia, founded in 2002 by Andrew Evans, who won a seat in the South Australian Legislative Council at the state election that year. [2] In 2017 it merged with the Australian Conservatives which dissolved in 2019. [2] [3]

Jack Snelling crop.JPG
Tom Kenyon crop.jpg
Jack Snelling (left) and Tom Kenyon (right) established the Family First Party on 28 July 2021.

On 28 July 2021, Jack Snelling and Tom Kenyon both left the Labor Party, forming the Family First Party. [2] [4] Upon founding the party, Snelling has said that "we are very concerned about religious 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". [4]

Both The Australian and ABC News noted that the Liberal Marshall government in South Australia was led by moderates who had supported reforms relating to abortion and euthanasia. [4] [5] Snelling has cited "moves to restrict the rights of hospitals and clinicians to refuse to participate in abortions and euthanasia" as a concern. [2]

Snelling claimed that "we have the support of some of the founding members of Family First including Andrew Evans". [2] Evans told The Advertiser 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". [6] The Australian reported that Snelling and Kenyon had acquired Family First's "data base of about 6000 supporters". [4] Former Family First senator and current leader of the Australian Family Party, Bob Day, however, said the new party was "not restarting Family First", noting that Snelling and Kenyon were "longstanding members of the Labor Party with a long tradition in the union movement". [7] Former Senator and leader of the Australian 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. [5]

Snelling told a Sunday Mail journalist in July 2021 that he was the chairman of an incorporated association called "Family First Party" which was not yet registered as a political party. [6] The Advertiser 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. [8] Snelling has said that "I have had no discussions with anybody in the ALP", [8] and that he had not discussed the decision to form Family First with either party leader Peter Malinauskas or Labor's state executive. [2]

The Advertiser also wrote on 30 July 2021 that a Liberal member had said that the "fuse had been lit" for a potential breakaway party from the Liberals to be formed after the Family First Party's formation, with "some Liberals" also worrying that the party could potentially cause the Liberals to lose seats in northeastern Adelaide. [9]

On 1 August 2021, it was reported that Deepa Mathew, who ran for the Liberal Party in the seat of Enfield at the 2018 South Australian state election, had joined the Family First Party. [10] 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". [10] Federal Liberal MP for Boothby, 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". [10] The Advertiser wrote that Mathew was expected to run as a candidate for Family First. [10]

The party was registered by the Electoral Commission of South Australia on 13 January 2022. [11]

On 27 May 2022, the party announced the appointment of former Australian Christian Lobby boss Lyle Shelton as their National Director. [1]

2022 South Australian election

The party ran candidates in the 2022 South Australian state election. [2] [4] Initially, Family First said it aimed to run in all 47 seats of the South Australian House of Assembly. [8] Snelling did not intend to run, but Kenyon was reported to be considering candidacy. [6] InDaily reported that Kenyon was "expected" to run as Family First's lead candidate in the Legislative Council. [7]

When candidate lists were finalised, Family First had candidates in 34 seats, and three candidates (Tom Kenyon, Deepa Mathew and Craig Bowyer) for the Legislative Council. [12] [13] 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. [14] Their highest vote was in the seat of Ramsay with 11.4% – a 6.9% swing to the party. [15]

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.” [16]

“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.” [16]

2022 Victorian election

The party contested the Victorian State Election. [17] Family First Victoria was registered as a political party with the Victorian Electoral Commission as of October 6 2022. [18]

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 the 2023 Narracan state by election getting 2.9%, the 2023 Warrandyte state by-election getting 2.8%, and the 2023 Mulgrave state by-election getting 3.1%.

In 2023, Former state liberal MP Bernie Finn joined the party. [19]

2023 New South Wales election

The party, unregistered in New South Wales, ran in the 2023 New South Wales state election for the Legislative Council as a group list with Lyle Shelton. The group list got 1.1% with 58,361 votes.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2006 South Australian state election</span>

The state election for the 51st Parliament of South Australia was held in the Australian state of South Australia on 18 March 2006 to elect all members of the South Australian House of Assembly and 11 members of the South Australian Legislative Council. The election was conducted by the independent State Electoral Office.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frances Bedford</span> Australian politician

Frances Ellen Bedford is an Australian politician who represented the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Florey from 1997 state election until 2022, first for the Labor Party and from 2017 as an independent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jay Weatherill</span> Australian politician

Jay Wilson Weatherill is a former Australian politician who was the 45th premier of South Australia, serving from 21 October 2011 until 19 March 2018. Weatherill represented the House of Assembly seat of Cheltenham as a member of the South Australian Labor Party from the 2002 election to 17 December 2018, when he retired.

The term swing refers to the extent of change in voter support, typically from one election or opinion poll to another, expressed as a positive or negative percentage point. For the Australian House of Representatives and the lower houses of the parliaments of all the states and territories except Tasmania and the ACT, Australia employs preferential voting in single-member constituencies. Under the full-preference instant-runoff voting system, in each seat the candidate with the lowest vote is eliminated and their preferences are distributed, which is repeated until only two candidates remain. While every seat has a two-candidate preferred (TCP) result, seats where the major parties have come first and second are commonly referred to as having a two-party-preferred (TPP) result. The concept of "swing" in Australian elections is not simply a function of the difference between the votes of the two leading candidates, as it is in Britain. To know the majority of any seat, and therefore the swing necessary for it to change hands, it is necessary to know the preferences of all the voters, regardless of their first preference votes. It is not uncommon in Australia for candidates who have comfortable leads on the first count to fail to win the seat, because "preference flows" go against them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Kenyon</span> Australian politician

Thomas Richard Kenyon is a former Australian politician who represented the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Newland for the Labor Party from the 2006 election until his defeat in 2018. Kenyon left the Labor Party in 2021 to found the Family First Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Snelling</span> Australian politician

John James "Jack" Snelling is a former Australian politician. He was the Labor member for the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Playford from the 1997 election until his retirement in 2018. Snelling left the Labor Party in 2021 to found the Family First Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Two-party-preferred vote</span> Result of election after distribution of preferences

In Australian politics, the two-party-preferred vote is the result of an election or opinion poll after preferences have been distributed to the highest two candidates, who in some cases can be independents. For the purposes of TPP, the Liberal/National Coalition is usually considered a single party, with Labor being the other major party. Typically the TPP is expressed as the percentages of votes attracted by each of the two major parties, e.g. "Coalition 50%, Labor 50%", where the values include both primary votes and preferences. The TPP is an indicator of how much swing has been attained/is required to change the result, taking into consideration preferences, which may have a significant effect on the result.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nick Champion</span> Australian politician (born 1972)

Nicholas David Champion is an Australian politician. He is a member of the South Australian Labor Party and has served in the South Australian House of Assembly since the 2022 South Australian state election, representing the seat of Taylor. He has served as the Minister for Trade and Investment, Minister for Housing and Urban Development and Minister for Planning in the Malinauskas ministry since March 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jamie Briggs</span> Australian politician

Jamie Edward Briggs is an Australian former politician, who represented the House of Representatives seat of Mayo for the Liberal Party of Australia from the 2008 Mayo by-election to the 2 July 2016 federal election. Briggs was promoted from a shadow parliamentary secretary role to the outer ministry upon the 2013 election of the Abbott government. He remained in the outer ministry, though with a change in portfolio in the Turnbull government; however, he quit the ministry and moved to the backbench in late 2015 following inappropriate conduct during an official overseas trip. Briggs lost his seat in the 2016 federal election to Nick Xenophon Team candidate Rebekha Sharkie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2009 Frome state by-election</span>

A by-election was held for the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Frome on 17 January 2009. This was triggered by the resignation of former Premier and state Liberal MHA Rob Kerin. The seat had been retained by the Liberals at the 2006 state election on a 3.4 per cent margin, and at the 2002 state election on an 11.5 per cent margin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lyle Shelton (lobbyist)</span>

Lyle Shelton is an Australian conservative political activist. He served as managing director of the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) from 2013 to 2018. He was one of the leaders of the "No" campaign in the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey. In 2018, he resigned from the ACL to become federal communications director of the Australian Conservatives political party. Shelton has been employed by Oodgeroo MP Mark Robinson since at least August 2019. In April 2021, Fred Nile announced he would retire in November 2021, nominating Shelton to replace him for the balance of his term ending in March 2023. This endorsement was withdrawn in September 2021, with Nile deciding to serve the remainder of his parliamentary term. On 27 May 2022, Family First National Chairman Tom Kenyon announced that Shelton had been appointed as the National Director of the party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2018 South Australian state election</span>

The 2018 South Australian state election to elect members to the 54th Parliament of South Australia was held on 17 March 2018. All 47 seats in the House of Assembly or lower house, whose members were elected at the 2014 election, and 11 of 22 seats in the Legislative Council or upper house, last filled at the 2010 election, were contested. The record-16-year-incumbent Australian Labor Party (SA) government led by Premier Jay Weatherill was seeking a fifth four-year term, but was defeated by the opposition Liberal Party of Australia (SA), led by Opposition Leader Steven Marshall. Nick Xenophon's new SA Best party unsuccessfully sought to obtain the balance of power.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rebekha Sharkie</span> Australian politician

Rebekha Carina Sharkie is an Australian politician and member of the Centre Alliance party. She is a member of the Australian House of Representatives, representing the Division of Mayo in South Australia. At the 2016 federal election she defeated Liberal Jamie Briggs, and was the first Nick Xenophon Team member to be elected to the Australian House of Representatives. On 11 May 2018, Sharkie resigned from the House of Representatives as a part of the 2017–18 Australian parliamentary eligibility crisis. She contested the 2018 Mayo by-election on 28 July, and was returned to parliament.

This is a list of candidates of the 2018 South Australian state election. The election was held on 17 March 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 South Australian state election</span>

The 2022 South Australian state election was held on 19 March 2022 to elect members to the 55th Parliament of South Australia. All 47 seats in the House of Assembly, and half the seats in the Legislative Council were up for re-election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 Victorian state election</span> Election for the 60th Parliament of Victoria

The 2022 Victorian state election was held on Saturday, 26 November 2022 to elect the 60th Parliament of Victoria. All 88 seats in the Legislative Assembly and all 40 seats in the Legislative Council were up for election at the time the writs were issued, however the election in the district of Narracan was deferred due to the death of a candidate.

Georgina Mary Beatrice Downer is an Australian political figure and Director of the Robert Menzies Institute. She has unsuccessfully contested several elections, and is a lawyer and former diplomat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Next Australian federal election</span> Election for the 48th Parliament of Australia

The next Australian federal election will be held on or before 27 September 2025 to elect members of the 48th Parliament of Australia. All 150 seats in the House of Representatives and likely 40 of the 76 seats in the Senate will be contested. It is expected that at this election, the Labor government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will be seeking re-election to a second term in office, opposed by the Liberal/National Coalition under Leader of the Opposition Peter Dutton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucy Hood (politician)</span> Australian politician

Lucy Penelope Hood is an Australian politician, journalist and former political adviser. She has been a Labor member of the South Australian House of Assembly since the 2022 state election, representing Adelaide. With a swing of 7.1 per cent, she defeated the incumbent Liberal Party member, Rachel Sanderson, who had held the seat since 2010. Prior to the election, the ABC election analyst Antony Green stated that results in Adelaide have tracked closely with the seat being won by the party that won the state-wide two-party-preferred vote (2PP) at every election since 1985.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 Bragg state by-election</span>

A by-election for the seat of Bragg in the South Australian House of Assembly was held on 2 July 2022. The by-election was triggered by the parliamentary resignation of Liberal Party MP and former Deputy Premier Vickie Chapman on 31 May 2022. Jack Batty retained the seat for the Liberal Party, despite a modest swing being recorded against the party.

References

  1. 1 2 "Family First appoints Lyle Shelton National Director". The Daily Declaration. 27 May 2022. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 MacLennan, Leah (28 July 2021). "Former SA Labor MPs Jack Snelling and Tom Kenyon revive Family First Party". ABC News . Archived from the original on 28 July 2021. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  3. Grattan, Michelle (20 June 2019). "Cory Bernardi to disband Australian Conservatives". The Conversation . Archived from the original on 28 July 2021. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Penberthy, David (28 July 2021). "Ex-Labor ministers resurrect Family First in South Australia". The Australian . Archived from the original on 28 July 2021. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  5. 1 2 MacLennan, Leah (29 July 2021). "Cory Bernardi has given his blessing, but will this be a second coming for the Family First Party?". ABC News . Archived from the original on 28 July 2021. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  6. 1 2 3 Starick, Paul (27 July 2021). "Former ALP ministers Jack Snelling and Tom Kenyon reviving Family First party". The Advertiser . Archived from the original on 28 July 2021. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  7. 1 2 Richardson, Tom (28 July 2021). "What we know today, Wednesday July 28". InDaily . Archived from the original on 28 July 2021. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  8. 1 2 3 Starick, Paul (28 July 2021). "Former ALP ministers Tom Kenyon and Jack Snelling's ambitions to revive Family First political party". The Advertiser . Archived from the original on 28 July 2021. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  9. Starick, Paul (30 July 2021). "Conservative South Australian Liberals consider breakaway party". The Advertiser . Archived from the original on 16 September 2021. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Henson, Elizabeth (1 August 2021). "Revived Family First Party recruits Liberal Party candidate Deepa Mathew". The Advertiser . Archived from the original on 2 August 2021. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
  11. "Register of political parties". Electoral Commission of South Australia . Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  12. "Legislative Council". abc.net.au. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  13. "Candidates A-Z". abc.net.au. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  14. "Party Totals". abc.net.au. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  15. "Ramsay - SA Electorate, Candidates, Results". abc.net.au. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  16. 1 2 Mahblurg, Kurt (22 March 2022). "SA Election: Voters Punish Pro-Abortion Liberals in Landslide Labor Win". The Daily Declaration. Retrieved 8 June 2022.
  17. "Family First appoints Lyle Shelton National Director". Daily Declaration. 27 May 2022. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  18. "Currently registered parties". Victorian Electoral Commission . Archived from the original on 15 October 2022. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  19. https://familyfirstparty.org.au/media-release-former-liberal-bernie-finn-joins-family-first-to-run-for-senate/