Family First Party (2021)
Family First Party (2021)
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Family First Party (2021)

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Family First Party (2021)

The Family First Party (FFP or FF) is a conservative political party in Australia. It was founded in 2021 by former state Labor ministers Jack Snelling and Tom Kenyon. As of March 2022, the former managing director of the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL), Lyle Shelton is the party's National Director. Opposing abortion and euthanasia are regarded as some of the party's key policies.

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. In 2017 it merged with the Australian Conservatives which dissolved in 2019.

On 28 July 2021, Jack Snelling and Tom Kenyon both left the Labor Party, forming the Family First Party. Snelling said that he was the chairman of an incorporated association called "Family First Party" which was not yet registered as a political party. He said that "I have had no discussions with anybody in the ALP", and that he had not discussed the decision to form Family First with either party leader Peter Malinauskas or Labor's state executive.

Snelling claimed that "we have the support of some of the founding members of Family First including Andrew Evans". 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". Former Family First senator Bob Day, who had formed the Australian Family Party in 2020, was not supportive, noting the founders' history with the Labor Party. 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. The party also acquired the old Family First's "data base of about 6000 supporters".

Commentators noted that the Liberal Marshall government in South Australia was led by moderates who had supported reforms relating to abortion and euthanasia. Snelling 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". In particular he cited "moves to restrict the rights of hospitals and clinicians to refuse to participate in abortions and euthanasia" as a concern. 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.

A few days later Deepa Mathew, who ran for the Liberal Party in the seat of Enfield at the 2018 South Australian state election, became the first prominent Liberal Party member to join Family First. 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". 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".

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

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

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