Religious Right Groups
Family First Party
| Leadership: | Original leader: Andrew Evans MLC, formerly Pastor of Paradise Community Church, an Assemblies of God (AOG) mega-congregation (4,000+) in north-eastern Adelaide. Before his election to the SA Upper House in Feb. 2002, Evans had held senior national and international positions with the AOG for many years. Current National Chairman is Peter Harris.In the 2004 Federal election, FFP Senator-elect Steve Fielding of Victoria won his seat with about 1.9 per cent of the primary vote and a deluge of preferences from the major parties. |
| Date formed: | After preliminary discussions lasting some months, the party was officially launched in SA on 3 September 2001 (‘SA Festival Focus’, August 2002, 4). It was re-launched as a national party on 8 August 2004 (‘Sunday Mail’ (Qld.), 12 Sept. 2004) |
| Area of operation: | Initially SA, but now a national party. |
| Estimated membership: | 3,000 members claimed by Peter Harris (National Press Club, 17 Nov. 2004) |
| Finances: | FFP membership costs $25 p.a., with donations up to $100 being tax deductible. Heavily dependent on ‘candidate fundraising events’. 2004 federal election campaign cost an estimated $1.5 million. FFP later received over $150,000 in taxpayer funding. (‘Age’, 3 Nov. 2004) |
| Main objectives: | ‘ Family First wants to make sure every piece of legislation helps every Australian family reach their potential … The party does not see itself as far right or extreme in any way.‘ (FFP website). In practice, the FFP promotes a strong Religious Right platform, including opposition to school sex education, euthanasia and prostitution, and outspoken support for censorship. The party would like pregnant women considering abortion to be shown scans of the foetus. (‘Age’, 4 Nov. 2004) Recently Peter Harris has called for the teaching of creationism in schools, in the name of ‘balance’. (‘Age’, 18 Nov. 2004) |
| Main activities: | The party campaigns strongly at election times. Andrew Evans speaks regularly in SA State Parliament, issues media releases and participates in the usual round of public meetings etc. |
| Links with other groups: | Evans has spoken at an Australian Festival of Light (SA) meeting (SA FOL letter, 11 Sept. 2002) and appeared on platforms with members of the Australian Christian Lobby (‘Salt Shakers Journal’, Aug. 2003) and Australian Family Association (FFP press release, 24 June 2003). However, a number of Religious Right personalities, especially some connected with Fred Nile’s Christian Democratic Party, have criticised the FFP for splitting the Christian vote and for failing to identify itself clearly as a Christian party (see, e.g., Elaine Nile, ‘Family World News’, Nov. 2004, 7) |
| Publications: | Family First newsletters, parliamentary speeches and questions, and press releases are available on the FFP website. |
| Sample quotes: | [FFP] is deliberately not called a Christian party … We called it Family First so non-Christians who believe in family values will vote for us. But to be a member of the party you have to sign to say you oppose abortion, euthanasia, prostitution and so on so most of our members are Christians. (Andrew Evans as quoted in Helen Woodall ‘No writing on the wall but …’, ‘New Life’, 20 Nov., 2003) |
| Christians have backed away from politics and guess who has moved into the vacuum – the gay crowd and the marijuana crowd. (ibid.)[Regarding a state sex education program] If you look back in the old days when they didn’t have much information, but just say ‘Don’t do it’, you had far less problems than you’ve got now … I’ve over a thousand young people in our youth group … How many abortions do we have? None. How many children do we have born out of wedlock? Some, but very few … So I say they’re barking up the wrong tree … (Andrew Evans, ‘Teen Sex’, ‘Insight’ (SBS), 16 October 2003 | |
| [Federal Chairman Peter Harris said that] to win our nation for Christ we need to do things differently because we are not fighting earthly powers but the fight is in the heavenly realm. (Helen Woodall ‘Putting families first’, ‘New Life’, 8 July 2004) | |
| When people try to say I am homophobic I tell them I am homagape [i.e. 'I have a non-carnal love of homosexuals']. Jesus tells us to love everyone but not necessarily what they do. Homosexuality is sin but so is lying. Jesus does not approve of either of them. That usually shuts people up. (Andrew Evans, as quoted in ibid.) | |
| [Regarding the film 'Baise-moi'] The deeper question that has to be asked is ‘When do we acknowledge that large numbers of people who are continually watching, reading and viewing pornographic material, may actually act out that which they are feeding themselves with?’ This is of far greater concern than individual rights. (FFP press release ‘Baise-Moi …’, 3 May 2002) | |
| Assessment: | Winning a Senate seat boosted the FFP’s prospects considerably. Parties like this can survive for long periods if they succeed in securing parliamentary representation via proportional voting systems. However, FFP has a number of weaknesses: it is far too dependent on its AOG base; it is ‘too Christian’ for the bulk of the electorate, but ‘not Christian enough’ for most of the Religious Right; and it is unlikely to pull off such a preference coup again. |
| Contact details: | Federal Office – PO Box 420 Campbelltown, SA 5074 or Hon. Andrew Evans Parliament House, North Tce., Adelaide SA 5000 www.familyfirst.org.au |
