Family First Party:
Evangelical right's successful entry into federal politics

Bob Briton

It started in South Australia at the last state election. 
Assemblies of God Pastor Andrew Evans was elected to the Upper 
House on a platform of no poker machines, no nuclear dump and, of 
course, "traditional family values". The mixture of slogans 
helped gloss over the underlying reactionary nature of the group 
and bumped the pastor into parliament.

Having taken the decision to enter candidates in last weekend's 
Federal Election, Family First (FFP) recorded the fifth biggest 
vote in the country, outpolling the Democrats in the House of 
Reps. At the time of writing, Victorian businessman and lead FFP 
Senate Candidate Steve Fielding appeared likely to enter the 
Upper House with the possibility of holding the balance of power.

Clearly, something had been brewing ever since Coalition 
heavyweights started making appearances at the packed all-
singing, hyped-up gatherings at Hillsong Church in the Sydney 
suburb of Baulkham Hills. The PM and the Federal Treasurer were 
both given rapturous receptions at the impressive facilities 
where senior pastors Brian and Bobbie Houston host conferences on 
"God-given prosperity".

Prayer groups

While prayer-groups in parliament are not new, the entry of the 
sort of pro-wealth evangelical influence that now has a strong 
grip in the Bush Administration in the US is very disturbing.

Family First was keen to downplay its religious associations. Its 
website was recently cleared of religious references and made far 
more bland. Candidates were subjected to Police checks so that 
there were no surprises during the campaign — estimated to have 
cost the group $1 million overall.

Witches

However, the ugly truth will out. FFP electoral workers allegedly 
pelted the Greens candidate for Dickson Howard Nielson with eggs 
before driving off and shouting "f..k the Greens". The Greens 
were the object of a lot of Family First's hate during the 
campaign. So were gays. While the party was upfront in its 
opposition to gay marriage, the rank and file tell it like it is. 
A campaign worker in Dayboro in Queensland answered "yes" to a 
question about whether lesbians should be burned to death as 
witches.

Liberal candidate Ingrid Tall was not given Family First 
preferences in the seat of Brisbane in a rare break of solidarity 
between the right-wing parties. Ms Tall is a lesbian. In 
Leichhardt, Liberal MP Warren Entsch missed out because he 
supports gay marriages. In spite of all this, FFP had sufficient 
clout to conclude a preference deal with the Democrats with 
spokesman Senator John Cherry insisting the newcomers were not 
homophobic.

Satan's strongholds

Elsewhere, Victoria FFP Senate Candidate Danny Nalliah of the 
Catch the Fire Ministries distributed a leaflet with the 
following advice:

"Spot Satan's strongholds in the areas you are living (brothels, 
gambling places, bottleshops, mosques, temples — 
Freemasons/Buddhist/Hindu etc, witchcraft... If you are ready to 
pray against it do so. If not, bring it to your church and ask 
your intercessors, through the pastor, to pull these strongholds 
down."

The PM sat down with the Family First leadership and has agreed 
to subject Government policy to "Family Impact Statements", 
regardless of whether or not they get a seat. It is the least he 
could do considering the services rendered by the religious party 
and the potential for further cooperation. And while federal 
party leader Andrea Mason had previously said the full 
privatisation of Telstra might fail the "family friendly test", 
spokespersons like Andrew Evans and Steve Fielding are being far 
more open.

Fire and brimstone

The religion of the Family First Party is based on the "fire and 
brimstone" concepts common to all fundamentalist religious sects. 
It is socially extremely reactionary and many of its members once 
whipped up in a religious fervour are quite capable of playing 
the part of storm-troopers in support of the Howard Government 
and those who are its paymasters.

Although the Howard Government is likely to keep its distance and 
the FFP has already moved to obscure its religious and 
international connections it is a dangerous new element in 
Australian political life.