Family First

Summary

Policies & Commentary

Warning: the following article contains examples of hateful content pertaining to LGBTQIA+ people and issues.

What is there to say about the Family First Party (hereafter referred to as FFP)? Well, to put it bluntly – if you are interested in voting for a party that trades on bigotry and hatred in the name of “Christianity”, then FFP is probably the one for you.

Earlier iterations of FFP achieved limited electoral success, followed by a brief merger with the Australian Conservatives before its current incarnation. Although always heavy on social issues from a religious standpoint (the party has always been strongly associated with Pentecostal Christians in particular), FFP broadened its policy suite for a while to include economic issues. Some of that has been carried over into the current party, but for the most part, FFP’s agenda has narrowed again to focus on “cultural” issues.

Undoubtedly, this is due in large part to the presence of Lyle Shelton, former National Director of the Australian Christian Lobby. You know, the nice people who are currently attempting to ratfuck the Greens with a letterboxing campaign pushing all sorts of lies.

Shelton became FFP’s National Director in 2022, and is very much the “face” of the party. FFP’s website includes a link to buy Shelton’s book (in which he tells the reader all about how persecuted he is for being a valiant crusader for God). It’s not his first foray into direct political campaigning, having been previously involved with Reverend Fred Nile’s Christian Democratic Party and the Australian Conservatives. Every time, Shelton has aggressively pushed an increasingly intolerant agenda, and, under his directorship, FFP has recreated itself with a platform of some of the most extreme policies on offer this election.

Let’s start with the party’s preoccupation with LGBTQIA+ rights. FFP is not in favour of them. It wants an absolute ban on putting one’s preferred pronouns in email signatures, medical gender-affirming care for trans youth, funding for events like Pride, and any education programs that might teach children or adults that being queer is perfectly normal and natural. While we’re at it, FFP thinks we should get rid of any form of diversity training in both the public and private sectors.

Employing transphobic language, FFP states that it would ban trans women from playing sport or using a public toilet that corresponds to their gender identity. This is all dressed up as being about fairness and safety, but – as has been proved over and over – there is simply no evidence to justify this kind of discrimination. Trans women are not haunting public toilets looking for cis women to harass, and cis athletes are not being done out of medals that they would otherwise win. And let’s not forget Drag Queen Story Time. While not a specific election policy, FFP has a long-running campaign against the idea of kids having fun if a drag queen is nearby. It equates queens with trans folk, and accuses both – without evidence – of the horrific crime of child abuse.

Moving on from queer folk, FFP takes aim at cultural diversity, characterising multiculturalism as some kind of failed experiment. In light of this, it demands an immediate pause on Muslim immigration asserts that:

Australians, regardless of racial or ethnic origin, must rally around the shared Judeo-Christian values which made the nation attractive to the myriad of people of many races who now call it home.

Let that sink in for a moment.

This is nothing more or less than an attempt to impose a specific religion on all Australians, which is absolutely prohibited by section 116 of our Constitution. Oh, FFP isn’t saying that explicitly, but that’s absolutely the intent.

As for this idea of “Judeo-Christian values”? That’s a phrase that means nothing. For a start, Christianity and Judaism are different religions, and within each one there are multiple variations. I think it’s safe to say that FFP doesn’t think Australians should all be compelled to observe dietary laws or to refuse blood transfusions, so this is clearly cherry-picking. Given FFP’s origins in Pentecostal denominations such as the Assemblies of God, it’s fair to assume that “Judeo-Christian” in this case refers to imposing a very narrow set of beliefs and prejudices on every Australian person.¹And it’s arguable that much of what FFP stands for runs counter to what the majority of those who identify as Christians believe, but I’ll leave that for other Christians to judge.

For FFP, though, it all comes down to “faith” – by which it means imposing religious indoctrination in schools, and allowing hospitals and charities to discriminate against anyone deemed to be not following these “Judeo-Christian values”. For a party that claims to be against persecution, it sure does like to indulge in it.

FFP’s other major social policy concerns reproductive rights. Unsurprisingly, it’s firmly anti-choice, its stated aim being to:

Advocate through public education for the public to fall in love again with unborn babies so that abortion becomes unthinkable.

The language is emotive to the point of hysteria, characterising the act of abortion as an attempt on their (foetuses’) lives. There’s the usual component of lies and scare-mongering about late-term abortions and foetal capabilities. One policy calls for a law to be passed that would prevent a man from coercing a woman into getting an abortion. It’s worth pointing out here that it is already a criminal offence to coerce or force someone into undergoing any medical procedure, so FFP’s proposed law would be superfluous.

The attack on reproductive rights doesn’t stop with abortion, though. FFP wants a ban on egg and sperm donation, which would effectively end IVF. Instead, it wants to bring in financial incentives for people to undertake monogamous, heterosexual marriage and have children, including tax breaks for 3 or more kids and registration rebates if you need to buy a car that seats 6 people or more. Oh, and to give stay-at-home parents (read: “mothers”) money to do so.

This is Quiverfull-adjacent stuff. Quiverfull is an evangelical movement that repudiates any form of contraception and encourages people to have large families as a sign of their devotion to God. It’s very popular in US Pentecostal circles, and has been associated with numerous scandals and disclosures of abuse and exploitation of children. The major difference with FFP’s policies is that Quiverfull rejects any form of government assistance.

In terms of its pro-government intervention stance, FFP is more aligned with the fictional world of The Handmaid’s Tale, where the policies of the former USA (now called Gilead) are specifically implemented with the aim of forcing pregnancies and penalising those who are gender diverse or same-sex attracted. The ultra-emotive fetishisation of pregnancy and the religious fervour in its anti-abortion policy is eerily reminiscent of the cult of childbirth in Gilead.

There are some economic policies, but as they’re largely cut-and-pasted from the Liberal Party, I’m not going to go into them here. You can go and look at the Liberals’ website if you’re interested in nuclear energy, racist lies about immigration, or razor gangs.

What we have, then, is a party fixated on a few cultural issues, utterly captive to a narrow religious worldview that it’s seeking to force on the entirety of Australia. A party that claims to be a champion of freedom of speech and belief, but in fact would seek to restrict people’s freedom over their own bodies, minds, and daily life. FFP wants nothing less than to establish a theocracy by stealth, disguised as a hand-wringing concern for safety and fairness. In the FFP utopia, everyone is straight, white, cis, and “Christian” – and if you dare to be otherwise, then you will be ostracised, penalised, and banished from society.

Curiously, FFP just disendorsed Malachi Hearne, its candidate for Longman, for advocating exactly those beliefs and aims. Guess they didn’t like him saying bluntly what they’re trying to soft-pedal.

FFP may have changed logos and leaders, but it’s still the same virulently bigoted and disgusting swamp of hate that it was when I reviewed their policies in 2022. If anything, it has become worse. The idea of an FFP candidate securing a cross-bench Senate seat – with its consequent platform and potential for outsize influence on legislation – fills me with fear.

This is not a party of wholesome family values and community. It’s a bunch of fanatics trying to trick you into thinking they’re benign and compassionate.

Do not allow yourself to be fooled.

If this article has caused distress to any LGBTQIA+ readers or their allies, I offer a heartfelt apology. Engaging with this content on any level is horrible. Please don’t forget that you are brilliant and courageous and worthy to be celebrated – and please, if you feel you need support, reach out. I’ve listed some organisations below:

• Queerspace
• Rainbow Door
• QLife
• Lifeline: ph. 131 114
• Kids Helpline: ph. 1800 55 1800