Pedlars of influence:
Family First and the Federal Elections

Bob Briton

The sudden appearance of the Family First Party (FFP) during the 
recent Federal Elections certainly grabbed the media's attention. 
Its slick campaign and shrewd preference deals ensured that it 
went on to grab enough votes to put Victorian businessman Steve 
Fielding into the Senate.

Other FFP senate candidates came close. Certain things about the 
new party were widely reported in the mass media before the 
election. It has clear links with the fundamentalist Assemblies 
of God (AOG) church. It is politically conservative to put it 
mildly. It is now obvious that its modest success at its first 
national outing will cement the Coalition's dominance of the new 
Senate.

Secretive and pragmatic

However, it has been fairly hard for outsiders to get a clear 
idea of what exactly Family First is or even advocates. Pastor 
Andrew Evans (formerly of Adelaide's Paradise Christian Church) 
gave Kerry O'Brien of the ABC's 7.30 Report the party's 
one line response to just about any query about policy: "Well, in 
a short way, we could say that anything that helps families, 
we'll support. Anything that hurts families, we will oppose."

Unfortunately for those who are still interested, even the 
policies posted on the party's website give little extra detail. 
They are generally supportive of the status quo with a little of 
the "good for families" stardust sprinkled on them. When the 
media tried to contact candidates like Mr Fielding or the party's 
national leader Andrea Mason after the election to find out what 
their attitude might be to the sale of Telstra or media cross-
ownership laws, they found that the phone had simply been taken 
off the hook.

Ms Mason had previously suggested that the Telstra sale might not 
be "good for families" but now, it seems, a more pragmatic 
approach has been adopted. Before going into seclusion, Mr 
Fielding made a hurried comment that the sale could be considered 
if it was in the interests of families. It is pretty safe to 
predict that the new Senator — a marketing manager for industry 
super fund Vision Super — will see the benefit to all those "mum 
and dad investors" likely to buy into a fully private Telstra.

Before the elections, some campaign workers strayed off the set 
message by giving vent to their bigoted views on gay marriage. 
Victorian FFP Senate Candidate Danny Nalliah of the Catch the 
Fire Ministries made a widely reported gaff in one of his 
leaflets:

"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."

Those responsible for the blunders were reprimanded. Nothing was 
going to be allowed to spoil a campaign costing an estimated $1.1 
million.

In Queensland, Berowra FFP candidate Reverend Lance Clark was 
taking the preferred approach. Asked whether the detention of 
asylum-seekers and FFP's decision to give its preferences to 
Philip Ruddock might be anti-family, the Reverend said, "I'm not 
saying anything. You'll have to ask headquarters."

When a reporter from Adelaide's daily Advertiser snuck into the 
hall at Paradise Community Church to observe the FFP's origins at 
first hand, he was stunned to be singled out by Pastor Ashley 
Evans (son of Family First MLC Andrew Evans). He had been asking 
the congregation to pray for the elections. "From whatever 
political party they are from, we pray that they have Christian 
beliefs, Christian values, Christian ethics." Then, out of the 
blue, he blurted out "A journalist from The Advertiser I 
believe is sitting in the back row — welcome. Could you please 
stand up and wave so we can all welcome you."

The journalist in question was very impressed by the efficiency 
of the church's "eyes and ears", if slightly less so by the firm 
talking to he got after the service. Nevertheless, it was obvious 
from this brief contact that the church was the centre of a lot 
of political activity. In common with a number of other 
Assemblies of God centres, Paradise's foyer had been used to sign 
up FFP campaign volunteers.

Franchised religion

While the Assemblies of God have impressive facilities in a 
number of Australian capitals and have been able to attract 
weekly gatherings numbering in the thousands at its larger 
churches, its "end times" message has a limited appeal to the 
wider public. Its heartlands are the dispirited, alienated far-
flung suburbs of the bigger cities. The focus is on younger 
people and Christian pop music is a major lure. Assemblies of God 
churches have a neatly packaged approach that looks for all the 
world like a franchise.

"In an uncertain age many people are confused and seeking 
certainty and they find that in the Pentacostalist churches", 
according to Canberra Uniting Church secretary and historian Ian 
Wills. Cash-strapped families struggling to make mortgage 
repayments would like the "wealth is good" message, too. Pastor 
Bobbie Houston of Hillsong Church has authored a book called You 
Need More Money: Discovering God's Amazing Financial Plan for 
Your Life. Those that have spare cash might like to place it with 
AOG's own investment services at competitive rates of interest.

"Influence" is a much-used word in church circles. According to 
Pastor Ashley Evans, they want "influence that gives us real 
access to the realms of politics, media and the entertainment 
world — to create leaders and people with influence that is so 
pervasive it cannot be stopped, so attractive it cannot be 
ignored, so contemporary it cannot be ridiculed and so authentic 
it can't be rejected." The people to do this work are trained 
(some say brainwashed) at Influencers Conferences or at the 10-
week "Alpha" courses developed originally by the London branch.

FFP chairman and wealthy property developer Peter Harris set up 
Business Generation Ministry International (BGMI) with a vision 
to "facilitate and participate in the generation of billions of 
dollars through businesses to extend God's Kingdom." BGMI's 
"Movers and Shakers" program wants to build an "army of wealth 
builders and influencers".

The Assemblies of God also talk a lot about "covenanting". It 
means, in part, extending the fundamentalist influence throughout 
a specific area (like Sydney's west or Adelaide's northeast) and 
eventually to be able to steer political developments and declare 
the district for "God". The plan for penetrating the business 
community is clear. The other priority is the schools of the 
area. AOG seeks to have its members become school chaplains or, 
at the very least, to bring other chaplains under their 
influence. Students of schools — public or otherwise — will 
then be accessible to the AOG's all-singing, all-dancing approach 
inside school walls and in school hours with the inevitable 
invitation to a religious event promoted as a "concert".

Allies Howard can count on

Though the Coalition's control of the Senate in its own right 
makes the question of likely FFP voting habits a bit academic, it 
is clear that Senator Fielding will not be causing Howard any 
heartburn. Former Paradise Community Church Pastor Andrew Evans 
has not stood out since being elected to SA's upper house. The 
"law and order" Rann Labor Government would not be very deserving 
of his criticism in any case. Evans has taken the opportunity to 
deliver some lectures about abortion but his record is not 
noteworthy.

The attendance of Howard and Costello at AOG services and the 
agreement to institute "Family Impact Statements" for government 
policy and a mentoring program for trouble youth has delivered a 
classic "win/win" for these right-wing forces. FFP's meagre 1.9 
per cent of the vote went to the Libs by and large in the form of 
preferences and Labor and the Democrats shot themselves in the 
foot by putting the fundamentalist party ahead of the Greens on 
their tickets. The result, an Assemblies of God "Mover and 
Shaker" gets a big helping of influence by taking a Senate seat.

Another indication of AOG political behaviour can be drawn from 
the US. Federal Attorney General John Ashcroft is a member of the 
church. Conditions in the US are slightly different in that the 
Pentecostalists have decided to attach themselves to the 
Republican Party rather than establish their own. However, in 
common with FFP, Ashcroft downplays his religious connections, 
too. He stopped talking in tongues the minute he was sworn in as 
Attorney General.

From his senior post, Ashcroft has been able to push projects to 
outlaw abortion and flag burning and to reintroduce prayer to US 
classrooms. Like conservatives the world over, the former 
"states' rightist" now favours centralising the functions that 
matter in the Federal Government. He has pressed a number of 
states to impose the death penalty. He has also championed every 
piece of post 9/11 legislation restricting the civil rights of US 
citizens. He has backed racial "profiling" to detect terrorists 
entering the country. His name is synonymous with the so-called 
Patriot Act with its roving wiretaps and secret access to 
individual citizens' financial and other records.

It all sounds terribly familiar. Steve Fielding should fit right 
in with his Coalition colleagues in the Australian Senate.